London
by The Monster inside of Me
Summary: When a spell performed by England goes wrong, nobody could have predicted the arrival of a little girl as the outcome. Sure, he had been missing being a parent, but how the heck can he raise this little girl, London, who's technically his daughter? Join the FACE family as they deal with the ups and downs of raising a little girl when it's been 200 years since you've held a baby.
1. Prologue: Wishful thinking

**Author's Note:**** hey! This is my new story! I promise on a flying mint bunny I will try and update it, truly!**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Hetalia. Sob.**

_**Mid-July, 2001**_

For once, it wasn't raining in London. Instead, it was a sweltering hot day in July and America had recently had his birthday. Arthur Kirkland, the personification of England sighed and fanned himself in an attempt to cool down in the abnormal heat. Damn it, he'd been alive for over 2000 years, he should be used to all types of weather by now. He was walking back to his house with Francis, Alfred and Matthew. They'd just been to the G8 meeting in Westminster, and the others were staying at England's house. They would be staying for around a week, as they all had political matters to deal with in the country. Secretly, Arthur was glad they were all together; they hadn't been together outside of a meeting, without the others, in ages. His relationship with America was beginning to rebuild itself, although England doubted it would ever be the same again. The look America had in his eyes on that day on the battlefield… the little colony he'd raised was gone, and in his place was one of the world's powers; who Arthur was secretly very proud of, deep down.

And then there was Canada. For a country which is constantly forgotten, he was doing fine. His country was doing well, and people were beginning to notice he was actually there at meetings. He smiled, remembering little Matthew… and the bloody frog he, England, had somehow fallen in love with.

Yes, he and Francis had had many good times raising their colonies. But their little colonies were know big countries, and they both had the feelings of a parent: happiness that their child had grown up and done well for themselves, and sadness, for they no longer needed them. When they were raising them, they never had much time to think about it, but the thought of their colonies not needing them had scared the shit out of them. But, somewhere in their heads, they knew Alfred and Matthew still did need them. England was nearly always the first person America turned to for help, and occasionally Matthew would ring one of them for help.

But Arthur couldn't help but feel nostalgic for the times he did have a colony to raise; a child to care, nurture, protect and educate and importantly love. But there were no more colonies; no lands to discover and explore, all the nations had been founded. The only new nations were micro-nations, and Sealand was with Sweden now. England doubted he would be happy if he tried to claim him; he wanted independence and to be recognised as a nation, like America all those years ago. He sighed. Why was he even thinking about this? He'd had his time being a parent, it was done and dusted; a finished chapter in his life. The chances of being a guardian again were extremely low; who'd pick him, England, for God's sake? It wasn't going to happen. Shaking his head, he walked up his drive way and let himself into his house. He had to get dinner ready. With that, Arthur set off to the kitchen, not knowing of the trouble brewing in the not too distant future, and the fact that his time as a parent wasn't completely over…


	2. Thunderstorms and a surprise

**Disclaimer: ****I don't own Hetalia.**

_**Three weeks ago**_

"GOD DAMMIT!" England's roars could be heard throughout the house. France sighed and looked up from his cooking. Arthur had been in the basement, working with his spell books for the past three hours. He turned the oven off, and hurried down to the basement. "_Angleterre_, are you alright?"

"NO YOU BLOODY FROG!" Well, he wasn't being polite, so it couldn't be that bad. England was covering his face with gauze. "Arthur, _amour_, what happened?" England carefully removed the gauze, and France instinctively flinched. About a half of England's face was bloody, like it had been ripped. However, his self-healing thing all nations had was kicking in; the blood was already stopping. Arthur made a face at the blood. "The spell I was trying to do went wrong. It was a complex one, but not too challenging for me. However, it blew up, taking half of my face with it." Francis shook his head. "We'd better get the first aid kit. You, _mon ami, _need to stop messing around with those spells. Who knows what might happen next time."

"I guess you're right, love."

Reluctantly, Arthur gave in and put the books away. Once they were back upstairs, Francis began cleaning up the cut. "OOW! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THAT STUFF?!"

"Relax, it's just antiseptic oil. The fact it stings is good, it means it's working." Grumbling, the nation allowed France to put the oil on, squirming a little. "By the way, Alfred called. He wanted to know if it was okay for him and Mathieu to stay here when you host the G8 meeting in a few weeks." Arthur nodded. "Of course they can, provided Alfred behaves, nobody insults my cooking and Kumajiro stays off of the furniture." They were surprised the little bear wasn't bald from the amount of fur he shed, and it took forever to get rid of. Francis smiled. "It will be nice to have they boys back, _non?_ They haven't stayed the night for ages. We'll need to get their rooms ready." They both reminisced for a bit about their colonies for a bit. Finally Arthur broke the silence. "Yes, it will be nice. However, we have to America-proof the house now. We'd better get started." And with that, they went off to start checking their insurance.

For a summer night, it was surprisingly cold. Unnaturally cold. There was a breeze in the air, tension so thick, yet there was a calm, just like the calm before a storm hits. The roads were for once quiet, with the odd car zooming down or a late drunk stumbling home. The only things that saw her arrival were the foxes, ravishing the bins. As Big Ben struck midnight, a storm broke. Lightening lashed the sky and the parched ground was soaked in minutes. Francis, Arthur, Alfred and Matthew lay awake, listening to the low roll of thunder. It seemed as if the eye of the storm was in their area, or more specifically, their house. The noise was growing incredibly hard to ignore. The flashes of lightening became more frequent, as did the thunder grow louder.

_Good grief, _thought Arthur. _How long is this bloody storm going to last? _The others were all thinking along the same line. Alfred snuck into Matthew's room, because, not that he would readily admit it, the great hero was terrified of thunder. Matthew, on the other hand, was fine with the loud noise (he'd grown up with America for his brother, for crying out loud). "How much longer do you think it's gonna last?" wondered Alfred, his face dark, only to be illuminated for a second by lightning. Matthew shrugged, hugging Kumajiro to him. The little bear was cowering in his arms, not caring or bothering to ask who was holding him. In his head, he counted the caterpillars like Arthur had taught them to do when they were little. _One caterpillar, two caterpillars, three caterpillars… _Suddenly, a bright bolt of lightning flashed through the sky and landed somewhere incredibly close to their house. Thunder roared deafeningly overhead. "That's it, I'm getting Iggy!" cried Alfred, running out the room. Francis and Arthur decided that trying to get to sleep was futile, and as they headed out of their room, they collided with a very scared America and a slightly unnerved Canada. Francis swore quietly in French as he helped up Matthew, whilst a skittish Alfred gingerly pulled up Arthur; who was yelling profanities at the top of his lungs. He reached for the light switch, only to swear again when he found no light. Great, a power-cut. "Arthur, _amour_, could you get the torch from the cupboard? I need to check the fuse box."

"I'd love to, however, I'm a bit tied up right now." Francis looked over to see Alfred clinging to Arthur, his eyes screwed up tightly. "Alfred, love, you need to let go." Arthur said softly. Alfred just shook his head. "No way. I'm scared Iggy." That threw Arthur. Alfred hadn't called him that, in that voice, for years. Francis felt something tug his hand and he turned to see Matthew hugging Kumajiro. "_J'ai peur aussi papa_." He whispered, chewing his lip. He gave a small smile and then gently hugged him. "_Je sais. Mais il n'y a rien à craindre."_

"_Vraiment?"_

"_Vraiment."_

"Alfred, I need you to be a hero, and be brave, and to please let go of my arm. That way we can get the lights back on sooner."

"But the zombies will get us when we go down there!"

"What the-! Alfred, zombies do not exist. The only thing down there is the kitchen, the living room and the fuse box. I swear on a flying mint bunny, nothing's down there!"

Cautiously, Alfred opened his eyes. "Really?"

"Really." And with that, Alfred released his grip on Arthur. He and Francis shared a look. Yep, they still had their parent skills on hand and ready to kick in at any given moment. It was as they were fixing the fuse box when Arthur heard a noise. Francis was talking Alfred through the fuse box, making sure he didn't fry himself. "Sshh." He said, putting his hand up for silence. "Iggy, what's wrong?" asked America. "Is it zombies?" his eyes widened with fear. Damn it, he was going to have to find some way to control what Alfred watched. "No, you idiot. There was a noise." Francis coughed. "Well, there is a storm raging outside, of course there is noise!"

"No, you bloody frog! Listen." Everyone was silent. "Can't you hear it?"

"Hear what? England, are you ok? This isn't like your hallucinations again, is it?"

"Wait." whispered Matthew. "I hear it too." It sounded, like, crying. Like a baby, crying. "I can hear it, also." Said Francis. "Outside. Something's outside" declared Arthur, who, before anyone could stop him, had flung open the door and gone outside into the rain. Francis could see him stop at the end of the drive way and scoop something up. When he came back in they could see a small bundle, pressed close to his chest. "Matthew, Alfred, get some blankets and a towel. Francis, love could you heat up some milk and get one of the boy's old bottles?"

Francis nodded, confused. Alfred and Matthew stood there, unsure what to do. "Why, Arthur? What is it?" Arthur carefully put the wet bundle down and they all crowded round it. Francis flicked the light switch and, to his delight, the lights came on. Suddenly, the bundle gave a small wail, for this new light was harsh, and the man who'd found it and soothed it had put it down. "_Oh mon dieu" _whispered Francis. Alfred, for the first time in his life, was speechless. Matthew looked stunned. What Arthur had found outside, was a baby. "It looks like somebody left her. Those cruel, merciless bastards, how could they leave a baby on a night like this? They couldn't be bothered to go to a shelter!" England was now shaking with rage. The baby began to cry. She didn't like the amount of noise the man who'd found her was making. "_Angleterre, _you are scaring her!" cried France. "Boys, do as your père asked you to. This little one will catch her death otherwise!" Nodding mutely, Alfred and Matthew charged up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Francis gently rocked the baby. "Hush, _petite fleur, _don't let the loud, grouchy man upset you. He doesn't mean it." Slowly, she began to quieten down. Arthur, having regained his composure, though the look on his face could have rivalled the storm outside, came over to him. "Can-can I hold her?" Francis nodded. "Of course. I need to make this little one a drink, seeing as you'd most likely burn it." Arthur scowled. "Shut up, frog!"

"Arthur, not in front of the baby!"

Sighing, Arthur sat down with the baby, whose eyes were trained onto his face. She was studying him; trying to piece together who this strange man with weird eyebrows was. "This must be a very strange night for you, dear." He said tiredly. The girl looked like she was only a few weeks old. This just made him angrier. How could someone just leave a child, especially one as young as this, on a night like this? He reached out a hand to brush some strands of black-brown hair from the child's face. Instantly, the baby's tiny hand locked onto one of his fingers. Arthur smiled at the little girl, who gave a small cough. His eyes scanned her, trying to find some kind of identification. She had short soft hair, which was a brown so dark it could have been black, and skin which was a pale brown, like milky coffee. She had light brown eyes, which seemed to almost sparkle and glow, showing the emotions this child could otherwise be incapable of showing.

He blinked. Did he just see what he thought he just saw? He looked again. The girl seemed to, almost, shimmer. It was brief, but he was certain she did. "Francis, come here, quick!" Francis came running from the kitchen, bottle in hand. "What, amour? Is she alright?"

"Look." France looked. "I just see her, a small, but otherwise healthy baby."

"No, frog, really look." This time France really looked. He gave a gasp as he saw what England saw. "Angleterre," he breathed. "C-can it be? C-could she really be like us?"

"I don't know, love, I don't know" was Arthur's reply. But what they'd seen was something they hadn't seen for 400 years. The sparkle of hope, discovery and new life. The sparkle of a new nation.

**So, good, bad, neutral? I apologise if the translations are wrong (it's google translates fault):**

_Angleterre –_ England

_Amour – _love

_mon ami – _my friend

_non _– no

_J'ai peur aussi papa _– I'm scared too dad

_Je sais. Mais il n'y a rien à craindre _– I know. But there's nothing to be afraid of

_Vraiment _– Really

_Oh mon dieu _– oh my God

_petite fleur _– little flower


	3. Naming and Shaming

**Author's Note: ****Hey! Here's chapter three!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. Yet**

"So, you're saying she's like us?" Alfred was trying to get his head round what Arthur and Francis had just told him and Matthew. "B-but, how is that possible?" asked Matthew. "Every where's been discovered. Well, there's the Arctic, which the Russian bastard wants…"

"Matthew,_ langue_!"

"_Désolé, Papa_."

Arthur coughed. "Back to the matter in hand, it appears she is like us. She has the sparkle, just like you two had when we found you, and the circumstances in which we've found her match when other nations were discovered. The new personification appears to the closest personification on their land. It would make sense that this little one would appear close to us, we're the only nations in England. Why she's here, and what she represents, I have no idea."

Francis shook the baby bottle thoughtfully. "Hmm, I wonder… _Angleterre, _what were you trying to do with that spell in the basement a couple of weeks ago?"

"I was trying to create a sort of memory spell. It can either be used for retaining memories, so others can view them or it can be used for retaining thoughts and wishes."

"Why were you doing that?" piped up Alfred.

"It was meant to be your birthday present, but it backfired, taking half of my face with it."

"Is there a possibility it could have changed into another spell?"

Arthur looked thoughtful. "I-I suppose so." Francis nodded. "I mean, you've done it before." Arthur scowled, a look of rage on his face. "When?" Alfred gave a cough that sounded strangely like second-players.

"Do you suppose she could be the product of that spell?"

"It's a possibility."

Suddenly, the baby woke with a cough and started to cry. "Aww, shh little girl" said Alfred, rocking her. "There, don't cry. Hey, let's play a game. Where's the baby?" He covered his eyes. "There she is!" This only made her cry even louder.

"Alfred, stop it. You're scaring her." Matthew tssked as he took the screaming child from his brother. "How did I scare her?" he seemed unable to contemplate the thought. "You're too loud, brash and too rough. You need to tone down your volume, and be more gentle." Alfred snorted. "I'd like to see you try, Mr Baby-expert."

Matthew rolled his eyes. "Hello, little one." He was talking even softer than he normally did, so they had to strain to hear him. "I bet your wondering who the obnoxious jerk over there is. That's Alfred, the personification of America. That's a really big country. I'm Matthew, the personification of Canada, the giant country above America which everybody forgets. The guy with long hair is Francis, the personification of France, and the grumpy man with crazy eyebrows is Arthur, the personification of England. He and Francis are in love, although you have to look really hard to see it."

The little girl smiled. She liked this person. He looked much like the loud guy who'd held her earlier, but he was quieter. He smelt of something sweet. They were both wearing something funny on their faces. She reached out to touch it. "Ahh, be careful with those." Matthew found himself blind, and he gently prised the glasses from her tiny hands. She giggled.

Everyone looked impressed. Alfred looked thoroughly annoyed. "How the heck did you do that? How come I can't? I'm the hero, and what kind of hero can't stop a baby from crying?"

Matthew shrugged. "I'm quieter than most people, that's all. You know, she needs a name. We can't keep calling her little one."

"You're right" nodded Arthur. "Anybody got any suggestions?"

"What about some kind of flower?" suggested Francis. "Or a place" piped Alfred. Arthur shook his head. "Alfred, you git, she already represents a place. If we name her after another place, that would be stupid. I'm fine with your suggestion of a flower for a name, love."

They spent the next ten minutes arguing over what type of flower to name her after. Arthur wanted to name her after a British flower, but Francis was adamant, stating that a) we don't know what she's representing and b) she doesn't really look that British. "She looks mixed race, not that that's a bad thing." They eventually settled on Jasmine as a name, as it was a flower from the eastern side of the world (and Francis swore she had some Asian blood in her, judging by her hair and skin), Alfred was happy as it was the name of a Disney character, Arthur was very pleased as it was a type of tea (though secretly Francis, Matthew and Alfred swore to make sure she never found out about being named after a drink) and Matthew just liked the name, as he liked the flower.

He was still holding the baby, Jasmine. Kumajiro, deciding he'd been out of things for too long, came padding over from his dog bed. He placed his paws on Matthew's knees and cocked his head in interest at the creature he was holding. "Matthew, is Kumajiro safe around her?" asked Arthur, eyeing Kumajiro nervously. "She'll be fine Arthur. Hey Kuma, this is Jasmine. She's a baby, so you need to be extra careful around her. She can't talk, and she's too young for you to play with her." Kumajiro nodded, before asking "What's a baby?" Alfred decided to share his wisdom with the bear. "It's basically a tiny human. They're the equivalent of a bear cub. Except they are helpless and dependent on other people for everything for a couple of years. Oh, and they make tonnes of noise."

"Hmm, you never really outgrew that stage" said Arthur. "You do most of that every day."

Alfred glared at him. "So, who's gonna look after her? We can't hand her over to a home, not if she's like us. She'd outlive everyone."

Francis brushed some stray hair out of his eyes. "_Oui_, _amour, _Alfred is right. Who's going to look after her?" Arthur looked thoughtful. "I think one of us should look after her, seeing as we found her". Alfred looked delighted. "Can I look after her, can I can I can I-"

"NO!" roared everyone including Kuma. Alfred raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, it was a thought". Matthew looked at the now sleeping baby. "I don't think me or Alfred should look after her. Alfred, because that would be the most irresponsible thing in the world, and also, we have to take really long flights, which wouldn't be good for her."

Francis nodded. "I could always look after her. I mean, I've raised children before, look how well Matthew turned out."

Arthur looked annoyed. "Well, excuse me, but I've also had experience, I raised America for God's sake!" Francis snorted. "And that went really well. He ended up revolting against you!"

"Shut up you git! She appeared on British soil, so technically she's my charge!" he triumphantly declared. He had a point. It was an unwritten rule between nations: should a personification appear on already occupied land, they are automatically claimed by the occupier. A personification could be taken if they or their master is conquered. Or they could copy America and declare independence. "Besides, she might see something that would scar her for life if she lives with you!"

Francis turned pink. "_Tais-toi, Angleterre_". So, it was decided that England would be responsible for Jasmine. "Bloody hell, it's four in the morning" remarked Arthur as he glanced at the clock. "I think we should all head back to bed for a few hours."

Francis nodded. "_Amour_, what are we going to tell the other nations? They need to know about this." Arthur rubbed his temples. "We tell them tomorrow, or rather, today. I need to call some people to get Jasmine legally into my custody." Alfred looked confused. "Into my care. Honestly, my English lessons went to waste on you." And with that, everyone headed to their rooms, Jasmine, one the boy's old cribs. "_Angleterre_, do you think you can cope looking after a child? It's been 200 years since you were in custody of a child." Arthur was silent for a while. "I think I'll be fine, love." Francis smiled, then kissed him on the cheek. "I know, but we're all here if you need any help, amour. You always forget that." Arthur chuckled. "I've got a good reason. Do you honestly want America to influence her?"

"Okay, you're right there."

"Goodnight, love."

"_Bonne nuit, amour_." But as they were about to drift off to sleep, Jasmine's cries broke through the air. Arthur's eyes snapped open. "Damn it, I'd forgotten about this part of raising a small child".

"Well, you said you were responsible for her, so go take care of her!" laughed Francis, shoving him out of bed. Sighing, Arthur went to check on her. The next few nights were going to be fun.

**Translations (If anything's wrong, it's Google's fault, not mine):**

_Langue – _Language

_Désolé_ – Sorry

_Tais-toi – Shut up_

_Angleterre – England_

_Amour – Love_

_Bonne nuit – Goodnight_


	4. Meet the Nations

**Author's Note: ****Bloody hell, I've actually managed to keep updating this! Here's chapter four, wonderful readers!**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HETALIA.**

"Excuse me sir, but could you please quieten your baby?" the air hostess said disdainfully. "She's disturbing the other passengers." Arthur took a deep breath. He was trying extremely hard not to lose his temper. "I've been trying for the past hour to get her to sleep" he said slowly, "she just isn't calming down."

"Well maybe you should try feeding her." She said it like it was obvious.

"Don't you think I've tried that?" he snapped. Francis put a hand on his shoulder. "Arthur, _amour, _let me take her. _Désolé_, he hasn't had much sleep." He said to the air hostess, who immediately calmed down as she fell for the Frenchman's charm. "Oh, that's fine. We have babies and young children flying all the time" she twirled her hair, before going to check on other passengers. He took the bawling child from an exhausted Arthur. "Why don't you try and get some sleep? You've been up most nights for the past week." It was true. Jasmine was a very light sleeper, and a very loud crier. "Heck," said Alfred when Jasmine had woken everyone up for the fifth time in a row, "she could give Feliciano a run for his money by the amount of times she cries."

Arthur nodded, before leaning back in his chair. He kissed Francis on the cheek. "What would I do without you?" Francis smiled. "_Mon amis_, you'd be an evil, spell-chanting, tea drinking wreck."

"I'm not that bad!" he protested.

"Just go to sleep, you've had an exhausting week. I'm surprised you can still function."

"I've had a lot of practise with working late and having little sleep." For the past week, whilst tending to Jasmine, he'd been making calls to the Prime Minister explaining the situation, getting her into his custody and ringing the other nations and having the G8 meeting moved forward, as Ludwig declared this was of high importance, and needed to be attended to immediately. Alfred was hosting the meeting, so Arthur and Francis were flying to Washington, were the meeting was being held.

"I suppose a couple of minutes of sleep wouldn't be too bad." The next thing he knew, Francis was shaking him gently. "Arthur, we're arriving at the airport in a couple of minutes." He looked down to see Jasmine fast asleep. "When did she stop crying?"

"Soon after you went to sleep. However, I expect she'll wake up when we land. Would you mind taking her, I need to go to _la toilette._" Arthur nodded and gently picked her up. The captain then announced they were coming in to land, and Jasmine woke up crying.

"Oh, sshh love, it's okay. I know it's not nice when the pressure changes; it makes your ears hurt, but it's only temporary." He pulled the baby closer to him. This calmed her down. The man with the funny eyebrows, the guy who looked after her was holding her. He was nice, he was safe. Slowly, she stopped wailing. When Francis came back, when the plane had landed he found Arthur talking to an awake, but quiet Jasmine. He picked up the bag with their hand luggage. "Come on, we need to get off. _Amérique et Canada _are waiting for us." With that, they headed off the plane.

_**The North America Twins POV:**_

"How much longer are they gonna be?" whined Alfred. Matthew rolled his eyes and put down his magazine. "Alfred, if you say that one more time, you will learn what my hockey stick feels like. And, no, I don't know how much longer they're going to be. So, rather than pestering me, go ask at the flight desk." Alfred looked miffed. "Fine. I'm just on edge 'cause I'm wondering how the flight went. Young babies and flying don't mix. But I'm also really excited to be seeing Jasmine again."

"I know that, and I'm equally worried and excited, but you don't need to let the whole world know."

"Well, technically in a couple of hours the whole world will know."

Matthew regretted that comment. "Just go get a hamburger or something before I beat you to death with my hockey magazine." Just then the screen on the wall lit up, announcing that the flight from Heathrow had landed. "Yes! Finally, they're here!" And before he could stop him, Alfred was charging towards the terminal, meaning Matthew had to chase after him. They stood in the crowd of people waiting for somebody on the plane. Alfred was holding a sign saying "Arthur Kirkland and Francis Bonnefoy", so they knew they were the ones picking them up. "There!" said Matthew, pointing. Alfred's enthusiasm was infectious, and he'd been excited as well. They both started to franticly wave at them, but it took ages until they actually spotted them.

"Hiya Artie!" America practically pounced on the older nation, who, luckily hadn't been carrying Jasmine. "GET OFF ME ALFRED!" roared Arthur. "Calm down, please, Arthur, you'll scare Jasmine" This calmed him instantly. "_Bonjour_, Francis" said Matthew, a smile at his lips. "_Bonjour_ Matthew, _comment-allez vous?_

"_Je suis bien. Et toi?"_

"_Je suis aussi très bien." _He then pulled the younger nation into a hug. "Hey, you guys, could stop talking in French, we can't understand you" said Alfred, pulling them apart. Matthew sighed. "Hi Arthur. How was the flight?"

"Let's say a certain young lady decided to make it very clear she didn't want to stay quiet. The flight attendant wasn't very happy."

"Until she fell for my French charm" butted in Francis. "It was funny, this little one didn't go quiet until Arthur had fallen asleep. When we landed, they were both up and he was telling her about pressure changes and why it makes your ears hurt." Arthur shuffled awkwardly.

"Yeah, well it's good to start teaching her these things"

"Whatever you say, _mon amour_"

Jasmine, having finally realised she knew the two people who looked the same, reached out to them. "Aww, look Matthew, she wants to say hello! Hi, Jazzy!" Alfred grinned. However, he was too loud and this unnerved the little girl, who started whimpering. "Really Al, you had to set her off. And kind of nickname is Jazzy?" Matthew sighed. "Here, let me carry her. The car's round in the parking lot. You guys must be exhausted" Then he turned to Jasmine. "Hey Jasmine, you probably don't remember me, but I was at your house a couple of days ago. Just ignore the loud idiot over there, you'll get used to him" She instantly calmed down, reassured that this was a different person to the loud guy from earlier.

They headed back to the car, Alfred still annoyed with how well Matthew could handle Jasmine. However, they met a problem at the car. Two words: England and car seat. It took fifteen minutes, Alfred, Arthur and Francis and a lot of swearing before Jasmine could go in it. Matthew had covered her ears for most of it, luckily. He mentally noted to make sure the car seat was fitted before they had to go, next time they came over. Finally, they were on the road. "Let's go! We've got a meeting to get to!"

"I cannot believe this," said Arthur dryly. "Alfred's taking a genuine interest in a meeting, and not for the sake of messing around. I never thought we'd see the day."

"Stop it, _amour, _we should be encouraging this kind of behaviour" said Francis, with a smile.

-_**Time Skip**_-

After driving for about half an hour, they finally arrived at the G8 building. "The other nations should start arriving in a bit" said Alfred, as he parked the car. "I know Ludwig and Feliciano are already here. Ludwig decided that he would be able to organise the meeting better if he was early, and Feliciano wouldn't be late, as they're already here. He's been ecstatic about meeting Jasmine. He was acting like Greece around a new born kitten when I showed him a photo of her on my phone." Arthur smiled. "Why am I not surprised. How did the other nations react?"

"Well, Germany, as you know, went into full on organising mode, Feliks started going on about baby stuff, Gilbert declared how awesome this was, you get the picture. Oh, and Ezrsébet started crying and Roderich had to take over the phone call."

That did not sound good. "Umm, why did she start crying?" But Alfred wouldn't say why. "You'll see". What did that mean, thought Francis as they walked into the building. "America! _Inghilterra_! _Francia!_" a young man with short brown hair and a long curl on the left side of his head came running up to them. "_Ciao_!_ Ciao_! Ludwig, they're here! Ve! Ve! Ve!" Feliciano was bouncing around like an excited puppy.

"Feliciano, I know they're here! You do not need to shout it!" a sharp, German accent cut through the air, and a disgruntled blond haired man appeared from a doorway. "And your country's education system is falling to pieces! We need to discuss that on the way home." Realising the other nations were standing there, a faint pink blush spread over Ludwig's face. "Ah. I had not realised you were right here. I thought Feli had just seen your car."

Before it could get anymore awkward, Feliciano had spotted Matthew carrying Jasmine. "Ludwig, Ludwig, look! They've got _il bambino! _She's so _carina_! What's her name?" Matthew smiled. "Her name's Jasmine."

"Can I hold her, _per favour_?" he said excitedly.

"Yes, if Arthur's okay with it." Arthur nodded, before continuing his conversation with Ludwig.

"VEEEEE!" squealed the Italian.

"Only if you're quiet!" That stopped him instantly. Carefully, Matthew handed her over to Feliciano. "_Ciao, piccolo_! I'm Feliciano, and I represent Italy! We have lots of great things, like pizza and gelato and an amazing culture! My grandpa is Rome, and he was the greatest country in the Ancient world! Rome had an empire, like your _papà_ had!" Jasmine had been watching Feliciano the whole time he'd been talking to her. She liked this man. He sounded happy, and he was talking to her in a different way to which the man with the funny eyebrows (whom she'd decided was her safe person). He sounded different, like the way the blond guy with long hair sounded. He sounded different to him though. And what was that thing on his head?

Everybody spun towards Feliciano as he let out a high-pitched yelp, as Jasmine yanked his curl. Arthur and Ludwig dashed over to them: Arthur to Jasmine, before Feliciano could drop her, and Ludwig to Feli to make sure he was okay. "Feliciano, vhat did she do?" Ludwig scanned him for any signs of injury. He just whimpered and pointed to his curl. "Ah," said Arthur. "Did she by any chance grab your curl? She doesn't know what's she's doing; babies learn things by touching and holding items which interest them. She did it to Matthew earlier."

"It was hilarious" laughed Alfred, who couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. "He sounded like a girl!"

"Shut up Alfred" glared Matthew, rubbing his curl, which was still sore. "Unless you want me to prove Canadian rage exists." Alfred instinctively stepped behind Arthur. "Boys…" said Francis, trying to defuse the tension. "G8 buildings are not places for fighting. You should be setting a better example to Jasmine." Mumbling apologies, the twins went back to glaring at each other.

"I'm so sorry, Feliciano. It won't happen again" Arthur apologised to Feliciano, who was being checked by Ludwig. "Don't worry about it. It was an accident. Anyway, she's still _adorabile, sì?"_ Thank God for Feliciano being so good natured. Arthur dreaded what could have happened if Jasmine had done that to Lovino. Ludwig was looking at Jasmine. "You say she's done this before? She might be repeating that to see if she gets the same reaction out of the curl owner. _Interessant"_ He wrote something down in his notebook. "_Ja, _Feli, she is _sehr bezaubernd. _I believe the others feel the same vay. However, the meeting starts in half an hour, and I believe more nations have just arrived."

Everyone looked as the doors burst open and half of the world walked in.

"FRATELLO!" Feliciano knocked Lovino over. "GET OFF ME, IDIOTA!" roared Lovino, while Antonio stood by, laughing.

"Make vay, zhe awesome Prussia is here!" Ludwig face palmed.

"Gilbert, SHUT UP!" Ezrébet smashed him over the head with a frying pan. Roderich hastily took it off his wife (yes, they got remarried).

"Da, Prussia, _tishe. _You're upset the _rebenok"_ Ivan pointed at Jasmine, who was watching them in interest, but when Gilbert and Feliciano started yelling, she began to whimper. All the female nations crowded around her. Arthur handed her other to Ezrébet.

"She's so cute!" cooed Lili (Lichtenstein) and Anna (Belgium, she hasn't got a name, so I gave her one). "I agree. Hello sweetie" Anya (Ukraine) had fallen for Jasmine's charm and even Natalia was smiling at her, her nice smile, not her _I'm-about-to-stab-you _smile.

"Where did you find her?" asked Seychelles. Arthur was about to answer when a shrill noise cut through the air. Ludwig had managed to get hold of a noise horn, and was trying to get the meeting in order. "Right, everyone is now here; the meeting can begin. As you know, ve are here to discuss the matter of the new personification England discovered, who has been named Jasmine. However, Hungary and Austria have something they vould like to tell us" he looked at them. Roderich gave a nervous cough and Ezrébet gave a small squeal. "Well, we have some big news!" Roderich nodded at his wife. "We are… well, we're expecting a baby!" there was an outburst of congratulations and the female nations and Feliks swarmed them, excited there were now going to be two little personifications. But before the meeting could descend into chaos as normal, Ludwig used the horn again.

"_Ja, _congratulations. But, as vonderful as that news is, that's not why we called the meeting. The meeting is about the baby in _Kanada's_ lap." All eyes on Canada. "Hey, you guys actually noticed me!"

Ignoring this, Ludwig continued. "So, England, please explain how you came to find this little one."

So, Arthur, aided by Alfred, Francis and Matthew explained about the spell and the thunderstorm. When they had finished, the room was silent, for once. Then, in attempt to break the silence, Yao spoke. "So, how do we work out what she represents?" Alfred leapt into the conversation. "I'm glad you asked. We decided that the best way to work out what she represents is through a DNA test."

A large majority of the nations looked confused. "How will a DNA test, like, help us? What will that like, prove?" asked Feliks.

Matthew stepped in to help his brother explain the reason behind the test. "We worked out the best way to find out what Jasmine represents is in her DNA. If she represents say, a New England, and is Arthur's successor, like Greece and Egypt were, her DNA will be mostly England's, with some of her own. If she represents a city, she will have DNA from the home country, but as cities have been influenced by other countries over the years and some have lots of citizens from other countries, she will have the DNA from those other countries as well as her own. If she is a completely new nation, she will have her own DNA, and possibly a little from other countries if they've had any influence in her land". This seemed to clear up most of the nation's queries.

Kiku was very impressed with that answer. "Where's the test being done?"

Alfred brushed Nantucket out of his eyes and fiddled with Texas (his curl and his glasses for those who don't know that). "It's being done in a lab here, in this very building"

Sweden coughed. "Are you sure that was wise? I mean, no offense America, but you don't strike me as the scientific type" Alfred scowled.

"Yes, I am sure. America is still one of the most influential scientific powers of the world!"

"Sorry. But I was just impressed with Canada's answer, I couldn't really imagine you helped with that answer"

Before a full scale argument could break out, there was a knock at the door. "Come in, it's unlocked." The door opened and a blonde haired women with a folder full of papers cautiously came in. "Umm, I'm sorry to disturb you, but I have the results for that little one's DNA test" she took a sheet from the folder and handed it to Ludwig. "_Danke schön" _he nodded, before she turned and left. "Ludwig, what does it say? Who does the _bambino _belong to? This is so exciting! Ve! Ve! Ve!" Feliciano lost it completely. "Yeah, potato bastard, don't keep us in suspense!" Italy south yelled. Jasmine started crying, she'd stayed quiet in Matthew's lap for most of the meeting, but now the noise was getting too loud, and she really wanted a nap, or her safe person.

"Maple hockey, Italy! You've made Jasmine cry!" Matthew started trying to reassure the bawling child. The Italy brothers looked extremely guilty. "I'msorry! I'msorry! I'msorry!" wailed Feliciano, horrified he'd made the cute baby cry. "Here, let me take her" Gilbert, who was next to Matthew scooped her up. "Getting a hug from zhe awesome Prussia vill definitely make her better!" he declared. However, Jasmine was startled by being picked up by a complete stranger, and when she caught sight of Gil's red eyes, she started howling even more.

"GILBERT YOU SCARED HER EVEN MORE!" Ezrébet had to stop herself from smashing his head with her frying pan. Instead she took Jasmine from him. "Sh, it's okay. We're not going to hurt you" she whispered, rocking the baby, who was beginning to calm down. She didn't feel completely safe, this lady was a stranger, but she was quiet and gentle, and felt like she was safe. "Wow, Ezré, you're really good with babies!" commented Gil. "Better than the aristocrat". Roderich glared at him. "That's not completely true…"

"Keep telling yourself that. Whenever a minister brought their wife and new child to meet the court, he always panicked with the baby, and it would always end up howling when he was holding them" This time he did get a whack with the frying pan. Arthur thanked Ezrébet for calming her, then he put Jasmine into her carrier, were she soon fell asleep.

"Maybe sometime today we will find out what Jasmine represents, _da_?" Ivan was now officially getting bored, and that normally meant trouble was coming. "_Ja _Ivan, we will. Now, shut up, all of you! It says here that a large majority of her DNA is similar to the DNA of other countries. Almost half of her DNA is the same as England's, and the rest is made up of her own DNA and DNA that is similar to the majority of countries in Asia and several countries in Africa and The Caribbean. However, due to the amount of DNA which matches England's, we have come to the conclusion that Miss Kirkland is the personification of a British city. Also, because so much of their DNA is the same or similar, we have also discovered that she is his…" Ludwig trailed off. "What? His what?"

"We have also discovered that she is his daughter." Again, another large, awkward silence. "Well," said Antonio, eyebrows raised. "I don't think anybody saw that one coming, _hizo que, mis amigos."_

"Which countries DNA did she match? You weren't very specific, except from England's" Monaco adjusted her glasses.

"It has a list: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Japan, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ghana, Botswana, and Cuba." The nations looked at each other. They were all related to the little girl?

"How?" asked India. "How are we all related to her?" Arthur snapped his fingers. "I've got it. I know what she represents".

"What?"

"The greatest city in the world."

Alfred scratched his head. "New York?"

Arthur resisted the urge to face palm. "NO YOU BLOODY GIT! LONDON!" Miraculously, Jasmine didn't wake up.

"How did you work that out?"

"First of all, if a nation has a child and it's not the future nation's personification, it is its capital city. Capital city of England: London. Second of all, 45% of London's population is white British; that's people from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The rest of the population is made up of people from or with heritage in other countries; with the most common being from Asia. That's where she got most of her looks from."

The nations on the list were now huddled around the sleeping baby. "How come she doesn't look that much like any of the African nations?" asked Zimbabwe. "Or like any from the Caribbean?" said Cuba.

"Can I do another science explanation? Canada can help" Alfred said hopefully. Not waiting for an answer, he carried on. "Basically in you have these things called alleles, which are variations of a gene. These decide what you'll look like, for example your eye colour. However, some alleles are what's known as recessive; this means you need two copies of it for that trait to show in that person. Alleles were you need only one copy are known as dominant alleles."

Matthew took over. "However, it's a bit different for nations. Because we get some of our looks from whoever discovers us, what our predecessor's looked like or from staying with a nation for a while when we're little, this means our alleles work differently. Ours work by taking traits from what the majority of the country looks like and or what our guardians, if we have any looks like. It will only take traits if it is a major thing, like, when England was born, most of his country had blonde hair. So, his alleles took that trait and got rid of the trait for brown hair, even though people had it. The majority has to have the trait, otherwise it won't be picked up. However, because Jasmine's a city, the amount of people from other countries has a greater effect on her alleles than they do on England, the whole country, because she is concentrated on a small space with a very high population. So, Jasmine will have traits from the African and Caribbean countries, but because there is a slightly higher percentage of people from Asia or with Asian heritage, her alleles sided with them, so she got the Asian looks. If any of that makes any sense."

Everybody looked confused. "Basically, if a lot of people in your country had blond hair when your country was founded, you got blond hair. If there was a lot of different hair colours in your country, you would get the most common. Does that make more sense?" asked Alfred hopefully.

This made more sense to most nations. "Well, that looks like we've covered everything that we needed to cover, for once" remarked Ludwig. "Unless anybody has anything else they want to discuss, the meeting is dismissed. Now, go, _schnell_! Before somebody breaks something." And with that everybody began to file out of the room. Arthur went over to Francis, Alfred and Matthew with Jasmine. "Hey Artie, are you all right? You look pale" Alfred looked worried. "Are you feeling sick?"

"Alfred, of course he is not all right! He's had a big shock to his system; he's found out he's a father for maple's sake!" Alfred flushed pink. "Oh, yeah."

"_Amour, _do want to sit down? Or some coffee, that will help you with the shock."

Arthur gave a mute nod at Francis. "Yes, please. Not to coffee though. Alfred, do you have any good quality tea in this place? I think I need a big cup of Earl Grey". And so they headed to the kitchen, on a quest for tea bags, but Arthur's heart wasn't really into the search. He was still too caught up in his thoughts. It looks like my wishing to be a parent paid off he thought, sipping his tea. He smiled at the sleeping girl, who Kumajiro was standing over, guarding her. Of course, he was delighted he was a father, but could he really be any good? It had been over 200 years since he had last had anything to do with raising a child, and he was a nation. He travelled a lot. Could he manage everything whilst raising her? He looked back at Jasmine. She reminded him so much of Alfred, all those years ago: the picture of innocence, not knowing of or caring for the horrors the world held, only living in the moment.

It was there that he, Arthur Kirkland, the Personification of England made a promise. A promise to his daughter that he would always try to be the best father he could, and to try and protect her from as many dangers life held possible, even though he knew he couldn't protect her fully. A small cry came from the carrier, and Arthur put down his tea and picked up his daughter. Quietly he sang her a song he hadn't sang for a long time, the song he used to sing to Alfred and Matthew to stop them crying, and to send them to sleep. When Francis came into check on them, he found them both fast asleep, Jasmine curled up on his chest, and a smile on Arthur's face Francis hadn't seen for a long time. A smile full of pride and love. The smile of a new father.

**Translations (if they're wrong, it's googles fault):**

_Désolé _– Sorry

_Mon amis _– My friend

_Amérique_ – America

_Comment-allez vous _– how are you

_Je suis bien _– I am good

_Et toi _– and you

_Je suis aussi très bien _– I am very good also

_Inghilterra _– England

_Francia _– France

_il bambino _– the baby

_carina _– cute

_per favour _– please

_piccolo _– little one

_ciao_ – hello

_adorabile_ – adorable

_sehr bezaubernd _– very adorable

_fratello – _brother

_tishe – _be quiet

_rebenok – _baby

_Danke schön – _thank you

_hizo que – _did we

_mis amigos – _my friends

_schnell – _quickly

**Wow, that was a lot of translations.**


	5. 2P Trouble

**Author's Note: ****Bloody hell, two chapters in one day! I'm on a roll! Thank you so much for reading, favouriting and following this! Here's chapter 5**

**Disclaimer:**

**Kumajiro: Monster does not own Hetalia.**

_Now let's take a step away from the Hetalia (1P) universe, just for a moment. As you know, the hetalia characters exist in other universes: Nyotalia and the 2P universe. Now, the 1P's know about these universes, and they know about the 1P's. However, these universes are linked, and some things that happen in one world can affect another. Like a spell. Unless it's obvious though, most of the time nobody really notices what's happened, and most people don't even suspect it's to do with another universe. But, things can happen, and they will affect another universe. Like the 2P verse. Let's go there._

"Would you please mind explaining to us why there is a baby in the kitchen?" Al and Matt had just come back to Oliver's house, after finishing some… business, with a guy who'd tried to mug them. Needless to say, he probably wasn't going to mug anybody again, unless you can mug people in a coffin. They came back to clean up, and had walked into the kitchen to find Oliver filling a baby bottle, and a baby girl watching them. "Oh, hello poppets! How did your business go?"

"Fine," said Al, grabbing a bottle of beer from the fridge, and chucking one to Matt. "We… persuaded him that mugging people's wrong. Now, about the kid?"

"Well, she's my daughter." Matt choked on his beer. "How the fuck did you reach that conclusion?" he coughed and Al whacked him on the back. Oliver frowned. "Swear jar first." Growling, he threw a coin into the jar. "Happy?" rolling his eyes, Oliver continued.

"I know because there was DNA test."

"That still doesn't explain how come she's in our kitchen."

"She was found inside the Houses of Parliament, where I was this morning, as I had a meeting with the prime minister. In an attempt to work out who she belonged to, the security team did a DNA test, and it turned out her and I had matching DNA. Further research proved that she was my daughter. Once this was announced, I claimed custody over her, hence why she is in the kitchen, with me."

Al looked confused. "Why d'ya do that? You didn't have to take custody over her; why did you?"

"It would be easier to show you." Oliver picked up the little girl. "Now poppet, this is Allen and Matthew, they're here to see you." He looked up from her. "Don't either of you dare scare her. And Allen, next time you and you're brother go on a killing spree, please don't get blood on the floor. Yes, I noticed." He passed her to Al, who looked extremely awkward. The girl looked at him through confused eyes. Who was this weird guy? "Why is she looking at me like that? Is she gonna start crying? If she's gonna cry Matt can hold her."

"She's looking at you funny because she's probably wondering who's this shit holding me."

"SWEAR JAR!" A quarter went in.

"Besides, if she starts crying you're gonna have to stop her, 'cause you started it."

"Shut up you jerOOOOWWWW!" The baby, who'd been sitting quietly in Al's arms, had noticed his curl. "DAMN IT OLIVER GET THIS BRAT OFF ME!" The baby started to giggle. Matt was trying to supress his laughter, his brother looked ridiculous. "I like this kid. Anybody who can do that to Al, and laugh at the reaction is brilliant" Oliver glared at him and took the baby off Al. "Shit, she'd better not have hurt Nantucket…" "Swear Jar." Another quarter.

"Or you're pride. You better hope Kuro doesn't found that America was beaten by a baby, he would use that as blackmail material for the next century". Not that he'd admit it, but Matt did think the baby was kinda cute. "Hey, kid, you've landed yourself the craziest family in history." Oliver handed her to him. She instantly tried to grab his curl, but he stopped her. "Kid, you need to be sharper to get past me." She started giggling again. The baby didn't look anything like Oliver. For a start, she had pitch black hair, which was short and spikey. Her skin was pale, almost white, but he could see a faint brown tint to it. It was also flawless, not a freckle in sight. Then there was her eyes. They were a similar colour to Al's, but with more brown; they were a dark maroon colour. And then he saw it. For a moment, her eyes lit up and turned the colour of blood. She gave another giggle.

"Oliver, what the…" he stopped himself from swearing, no way was he going to lose more money. "What just happened? What did she just do? What is she?"

"Sweetie, she's like us. When a nation is younger, that happens a lot. You and Allen's eyes used to do it; we had to hide it from the humans, they would have thought you were servants of the Devil or something similar."

"When you say us, do you mean, _them, _as well? Do their eyes do this?" By them, Matt meant their 1P counterparts. Oliver shook his head. "No, their eyes stay the same, instead they shimmer a bit, like the vampires from Twilight."

"The vampires looked hilarious in that film. If I wanted to see a vampire I would have gone to see Romania, not paid $10 to rent that film." Al decided to bless them with his wisdom.

"What's her name? Oh, and what does she represent?"

"I've named her Yasmine and she represents London."  
"How come she looks nothing like you?" Oliver ran a hand through his strawberry blond hair.

"I believe it's because there are a lot of people from other countries in London, so she got their looks. All the same, she is very pretty. And it looks like she wants a nap." Matt looked down to see Yasmine yawning. "Let's get you to bed, poppet" Oliver gently put her down in a baby carrier. "That's her temporary bed. I meant to ask, do you boys want a cupcake? They're not poisoned, honestly." Matt and Al looked sceptical. "You can have it with maple syrup and vegan chocolate sauce." This won them round.

However, whilst they were eating, nobody noticed Kumajiro come into the kitchen. Kuma instantly smelt something different and went to investigate. "AAARRGGHHH!" Oliver dropped his cupcake. "MATTHEW! ALLEN!" They looked up from their cupcakes to see Kuma… with his head in the baby carrier. "Shit. KUMAJIRO GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THERE NOW OR YOU WILL BE AT RISK OF EXTINCTION!" Matt's yelling did nothing. Al grabbed his baseball bat. "Hey, motherf*cker, chew on this!" he raised his bat. Oliver did not reprimand him. And then Matt stopped him. "Hang on a second, dickhead, listen" from the carrier they could hear Yasmine cooing. Matt dragged his polar bear away from the carrier, and Oliver picked Yasmine up faster than lightening. She began to wail, and Kuma tried to go towards her, but Matt held him back.

"Aww, sh poppet, the scary bear's gone" Oliver rocked her gently. She just wailed louder. Al winced and covered his ears. "Matt let Kumajiro go" he jabbed his brother in the ribs. "He was about to eat her!"

"You don't know what he was about to do! Anyway, I think somebody took a liking to him." He gestured towards the un-consolable child. With a sigh, Matt let him go. "Fine, but if she gets hurt, it's all your fault." The polar bear bounded forward and stopped in front of Oliver, sniffing at the girl. Almost instantly Yasmine stopped crying and she reached out to touch Kuma, cooing. The bear let her pet him and he nuzzled her affectionately. Oliver, still protective over her, glared at him, ready to run if he attacked. The brothers looked stunned. "How…"

"He hardly ever shows me that much affection!"

"Why isn't he trying to eat her, like some bite-sized burrito?"

"You're comparing Ollie's baby to a burrito? No wonder she yanked Nantucket. And he's not trying to eat her 'cause I trained him not to eat humans. It's bad for his digestion."

"Not because it's bad to eat people. Why would I think that?"

"Shut up."

"He must look like some super-sized stuffed animal or something to her."

"Probably."

"Boys," Oliver was nervously watching Kuma. "I think Yasmine has had enough time to pet Kuma, can you please get him under control!?" Muttering about over-protectiveness, they took Kumajiro outside. Oliver visibly relaxed when he left. "Oh come on Ollie, Kuma wasn't gonna eat her; Matt trained him not to eat people" laughed Al.

"How reassuring" said Oliver dryly. "So, does Francois know about her?" Matt jerked his head at the photo of the man on the fridge. "Yes, he does. He met Jasmine when he came over earlier. He came because he got the text I sent him; the same one I sent to you two, but neither of you replied". Yeah, they'd been smashing some guy's skull around that time.

"How did he react?"

"He was okay. He was sober, so the information actually went in. He knows he can't crash here when he's drunk, at two in the morning anymore."

"I guess that's an improvement." Silence. Then,

"You're gonna be a brilliant dad, Ollie."

"Yeah, you're going to be awesome" said Al, with a smile. "You were an amazing dad to us; look how we turned out!"

"We're really strong countries now, thanks to you." Ollie smile at them and wiped a tear from his eye.

"Oh, come here poppets! You're always going to be my little boys, no matter how taller than me you grow!" And with that he pulled them in for a hug. And for once, rather than push him off, and act like he was being embarrassing, they returned the hug. And from that moment on, life in the 2P FACE family got a little bit warmer.

**So, good, bad, complete crap? I decided to add the 2P's 'cause I was thinking **_**what should I do for the next chapter? **_**And then I was like **_**OH MY FLIPPING GOSH! 2P FACE FAMILY RAISING BABY GIRL!**_** Can you just imagine this, for a moment? Please? **


	6. Bombs, big and small

**Please don't kill me, I know I haven't updated! I wrote this a while ago, but then my laptop went funny, and I've been away at army camp (part of the largest all-girls voluntary CCF unit in the UK, proud of it).**

_Peace and quiet _Arthur sat down with a sigh. _I'd forgotten what it had felt like. _It was one of those rare moments in his hectic life when:

he wasn't needed at a meeting

Jasmine wasn't crying

Alfred wasn't getting on his nerves

Matthew hadn't snapped and made Alfred cry

And he was alone.

He could actually take time to enjoy making and drinking a cup of tea, rather than making one and having to drink it quickly or having to forget about it, and causing it to go cold. There was a possibility he might be able to make some scones, or watch Doctor Who. Or maybe he could go down to the basement and do something with his spell books? Wait, that could take hours, plus he couldn't hear if Jasmine needed him form the basement. Oh well, there was always the Great British Bake off. He finished his tea. Oh, how he'd missed savouring his tea. Being a single father with a young baby daughter took a lot out of him. Especially sleep. Arthur swore never to take sleep for granted ever again. Sleep…

Jasmine's small wails made Arthur snap out of his well-needed nap. He looked at the clock. Bloody hell, he'd been asleep for almost an hour. Jasmine's crying was beginning to get louder. He sighed and rubbed his temples. Not even Alfred had been this loud when he was a baby, and he was America. Trudging up the stairs, he opened the door to Jasmine's room, which had been the spare room. However, Alfred and Matthew had repainted it, and the other nations had sent stuff for it. Sweden had sent Ikea stuff, Italy (North) had helped with the decorating (he painted a picture of the world on one of the walls, complete with chibi nations, which Arthur was really appreciative of), Finland had sent a baby box, full of stuff a baby would need ("they're given to new parents for free by the government" he'd said cheerfully) and a lot of people had sent cuddly toys (Greece and Japan sent cuddly cats). She'd taken a favourite to the fluffy polar bear Matthew had given her, she'd loved it the moment she got it. And finally, Ludwig had got everybody to write down a parenting tip or custom from their own country and he'd had them made into a book, which he'd given a copy of to Arthur and Roderich and Ezrébet. Everybody had put something in, even Romano (Italy south) and Ivan. It was nice, knowing the world wanted their babies to succeed.

"Ssh love, you're going to injure yourself crying that loud" he picked up the sobbing girl, who gave a small hiccough when she saw her daddy. "What's the matter, dear? You know it's too hot to be this upset" It was august, and Arthur decided that the heat was getting to her. She'd been screaming for most of the night, but he'd had no idea why; he'd done the usual checks, but there was nothing visibly wrong with her. "Come on, let's get you some water" he ran a hand through her soft browny-black hair. Whilst filling her beaker with water, he happened to glance at the morning paper, which he hadn't had a chance to read yet. He dropped the beaker as he saw the headline. "_Car bomb detonates in Ealing, London at midnight. Seven injured" _Damn it, how could he not have seen it! Jasmine had been crying all night because someone had damaged London. He hadn't felt anything because a) there hadn't been any major damage, b) he was a bigger country; things like that had no effect on him, and c) as he was older, he had a higher pain tolerance. London was very small compared to the rest of the UK, so what was small to him had much more effect on her.

"I'm so sorry Jasmine! How did I not realise you were crying because someone had hurt your city? I should recognise those symptoms!" he hugged the little girl to his chest, who gave a small snuffle. He kissed the top of her head. "I know it hurts, but it's not going to hurt forever. The pain will soon pass. Besides, London is strong; your city rebuilt itself after most of it was flattered by bombs almost 60 years ago" he winced at the memory. "Yes, that was very painful. Oh shit, I probably shouldn't have said that. Or sworn." Jasmine watched him, her eyes red from crying and a bit watery, but she had stopped crying. She was looking at him, confused. Her brown eyes were darker than normal and Arthur wondered how bad she'd been feeling, which made him feel even worse. "Bloody hell, I've been a terrible father. Let's get you some Calpol, and that water I promised you."

Once she's had a drink and some medicine, Jasmine stopped crying and began to be better. She was instead quiet, and Arthur got a chance to drink his beloved tea. Then there was a knock on the door, and Arthur left to answer it. He reappeared with Alfred. "And there's my baby sis!" even though they weren't technically related, Matthew and Alfred saw Arthur as their father, and he saw them as his sons, so Alfred pointed out Jasmine was basically their sister, seeing as they both had the same dad. "Aw, why've ya been crying? Did Iggy make you try his scones?"

"There is nothing wrong with my scones, plus she's too young for solids!" Alfred raised his hands in surrender. "Whatever you say. But seriously, why's she been crying?"

"Some bastard set a car bomb off in London. Nobody died, and there was no major damage so I didn't feel a thing, but this young lady didn't stop howling from midnight to just now."

"Aw, that was mean. If it's any help, people try to blow places up in America all the time, but you'll get used to it. I've never felt really crap over a bomb." Jasmine giggled and tried to grab Nantucket, but Alfred stopped her. "Nuh uh, you're not doing what you did to Mattie to me! I'm the hero, you've gotta try harder to pull that on me. Hey, you're not crying when I'm holding you!"

"It's because you're not yelling, well, not too loud. And I think it's time somebody took a nap, as she was up all night" and with that Arthur put her to bed. America thought about what had happened with the bomb. He should check his cities terrorism precautions.

**-**_**A Month Later-**_

Matthew met them at the hospital, his face pale, hair a mess and he looked like he hadn't slept for at least 24 hours. Arthur looked as if all colour had been drained from him; the bags under his eyes didn't help. Francis was a wreck. Even Jasmine looked bad. The nurse led them through the hospital in New York, to where Alfred was. New York's Twin Towers had been completely obliterated in a terrorist attack and almost 3000 people had died. Alfred had collapsed the moment the bomb went off, and he almost went into cardiac arrest when the towers were destroyed and people started dying. Matthew had been with him at the time, and he'd stayed with him in the hospital for nearly two days. He'd been the one to call Arthur and Francis to tell them what had happened, and he'd burst into tears when he saw them.

Alfred looked like death. He was pale and wired to several different machines. But, somehow, he managed to smile at them as they came in. Arthur's eyes were full of tears, and he was gripping Francis' hand so hard his knuckles were white. Matthew was carrying Jasmine, who gave a cry of recognition when she saw Alfred. She then threw her polar bear at him, although it landed nowhere near him. "Hey." That was all he said. America, the Hero, had nothing to say. This was when Arthur started crying. Alfred looked so small, so ill, so helpless. All over again, Arthur was seeing America growing up in his mind. The little colony, who clung to his legs every time he had to go, the wars they'd fought together and against and the man who yelled excitedly at every world meeting. The man in the bed was a new Alfred, a different one.

They all sat down in the chairs by the bed, and Matthew put Jasmine on Alfred's bed. "Hey baby girl. I take back what I said a couple of months ago, about never feeling shit over a bomb. I feel really crappy now."

"Alfred, no swearing in front of your sister!" Even though he was in tears, Arthur still had the ability to scold Alfred.

"Sorry Iggy. Man, your growing fast, Jasmine. I swear on a hamburger you were smaller last time I saw you. By the way, did any of you bring a burger? Or fries? I'm fine with either. The junk they call food is gross."

Everyone managed a smile. "No, we didn't. The hospital staff would have noticed, and we wouldn't have been allowed to see you" Matthew pointed out as he gave Jasmine back her stuffed polar bear, which she instantly grabbed, cooing softly at it. So they began to talk about what had happened to the twin towers, how the world was reacting and how the G8 meeting had been postponed 'til Alfred had recovered. And so, even in such a black moment for this crazy family, a little smile was shared by courtesy of Jasmine and Alfred. And when the others had to go, they knew that America would get better soon, and that whoever did this was going to get hell when Alfred got out of hospital.

**Tribute to the 9/11 attacks. So many innocent people lost their lives. The car bomb incident actually happened, 2001. Like, hate? Review, please. Next chapter might not be for a while, I have exams. Sob.**


	7. Loud and Louder

**AU:**** Hey, first of all I have some thank yous I want to make:**

**To the 11 people who've favourite my story**

**The 12 who've followed it**

**The people who've reviewed it**

**And the 840 people who've viewed it! You're all awesome! You've all boosted my confidence in my writing and you deserve more than a thank you, so have some cyber-cookies too. And a special thank you to pastaaddict the first review and reviewing with almost every new chapter. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Hetalia. Happy?**

"Hey Ollie, I swear babies are meant to be really, really loud. Yasmine pretty much never cries." For once, Al had made an intelligent observation. "Well, most babies are loud. We should be thankful this little girl's quiet" Oliver finished drying the dishes he'd been washing. "I seem to remember some people being extremely loud." Al smirked. "Who? Me?" Surprisingly, Ollie shook his head.

"Nope. Matthew." Al almost dropped his bat. "Excuse me? Matt was louder than _me_ when we were little?" Oliver nodded.

"We are talking about the same Matt here, right? You know, the _I'm-too-cool-for-this-shit-so-I'm-gonna-be-quiet-and-glare-at-you-all-scarily _Matt?"

"Yes. You can ask Francois if you don't believe me." Al was gone in a flash. He ran to the study where Francois spent most of his time. Like always, he ignored the sign which said: _Please knock, or I'll have you killed and all trace of your existence destroyed_ and barged straight in. Francois slammed his laptop shut. "What zhe 'ell do you want Allen?" he was pissed.

"Ollie says Matt was much louder than me when we were babies. He's not being serious?" Al was completely ignoring the daggers being glared his way.

"_Oui, _Oliver's right, Matthew was louder than you. But as you got older, 'e became quieter, and you became… you. Now, can you go?"

"Yeah, thanks." And with that, a stunned America walked back to the kitchen and the living room. Matt was reading a book on hockey, and hadn't been paying much attention to his brother's antics. "Why the heck do you look like that?" Al flopped down ungracefully next to him.

"Apparently, you were the louder baby when we were little." Matt looked at him.

"You're being serious, right?"

"Swear on a tofu burger."

"Why the f*ck are you so shocked by this?" Oliver yelled from the kitchen "SWEAR JAR!" and Matt threw a quarter at him. "I'm shocked 'cause I didn't think it was possible for you to be loud." Matt yanked off his reading glasses and gave his brother a death glare.

"That's not true, I can be just as loud as you!" Al just laughed at the look on his brother's face.

"Yep, keep telling yourself that bro. You are nowhere near as loud as me." Matt growled.

"Wanna bet?"

"Definitely."

"I'll bet you $20 that I can be louder than you."

"Nah, thirty. That way when I win you'll owe me more." Matt forced down the urge to punch Al in the face.

"Fine. $30. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Good. Let's get started."

"On three. One… two… THREE!" And with that they both started yelling. Francis and Oliver had both come running, armed, but left when they realised what their boys were doing. "For two adults, who want to be seen as mature in zheir parent's eyes, zhey 'ave a funny way of showing it" Francois complained bitterly to Oliver. "I couldn't agree more. However, I'm worried more about-"

An extremely loud and extremely high-pitched scream came from upstairs. Both men covered their ears. "That was what I was afraid of." Matt and Al's yelling contest had woken up Jasmine, who was sleeping upstairs. And most babies do not like being rudely awaken from their naps. Especially 2P's. For something as small, fragile and delicate looking, she could make a surprising amount of noise. It was clear to see who the loudest child raised by Oliver and Francis now. And it wasn't one of the boys.

"YOU MEANIES! YOU WOKE YASMINE UP!" Ollie forgot about his language rules and hurled some insults at the two boys, who were covering their ears and straining to hear what he was saying. He muttered some more insults under his breath as he went up the stairs. Downstairs, Francois was yelling rapidly in French at the boys. Alfred couldn't understand most of it; whilst Matt was turning slightly pale at what his father was saying, and threatening to do to them. "This is all your fault, you pile of shit" he growled at his brother.

"How the f*ck is it my fault?!"

"You, wanting to be the loudest."

"You made it a bet." That was when Matt lunged at Al and a full scale fight broke out. Francois sighed and left them to it, they'd be done soon enough. Or they'd have to face Oliver's wrath, which didn't bear thinking about.

Upstairs, Oliver was trying to soothe a screaming Yasmine. She had quietened down a little, knowing her dad was holding her. Oliver's presence however, was not enough to calm her down. "Oh, shh, please poppet. I know the boys were being stupid, but they've stopped now. Come on, let's go down and see them." However, on arriving back downstairs, Oliver fought his flaring temper. Matt and Al were in a full-on fight, and Oliver was very worried something (or someone) was going to get broken. Plus, the noise and bangs they were making were scaring the life out of Yasmine, who began to scream bloody murder, and finally getting the twins to stop.

Matt and Al broke away from each other; Matt with blood streaming from his nose and Al with a purple eye. Oliver stood at the bottom of the stairs, trying to comfort an inconsolable Yasmine. They knew at that instant that if looks could kill they'd be dead on the floor or possibly in one of Ollie's cupcakes. Right now they would rather take death than face the rage that they knew Oliver was storing just for them. There was only one thing for it.

"Sorry Oliver" Their only hope was that being polite would at least soften their father-figure. It normally didn't work, but hey, miracles happen? Just then Yasmine stopped crying. She gave a small hiccough and then began to settle down. She was watching the room, but she recognised Matt and Al and gave a small cry when she saw them. This instantly made Oliver calm down. He couldn't upset her now she'd just stopped crying… He'd have to deal with the boys later.

"It looks like someone's happy to see us" remarked Al, smiling at the little girl. Matt was too busy trying to stop the blood flowing from his nose to answer. Oliver sighed. "What are we going to do with you? Allen, take your sister whilst I try and stop your brother from losing too much blood" and with that he handed Yasmine to Al, along with an ice pack for his eye and lead Matt off to the kitchen, where the first aid kit was kept.

Al sat down on the sofa, putting Yasmine next to him. She looked at him, confused. Why was her daddy leaving her with this guy?

"Well, I can definitely say that you're loud, hey sis? How can a midget like you make that much noise? You were louder than me and Matt combined" he slumped backwards in defeat. Yasmine gave a small giggle. She enjoyed it when people acknowledged and spoke to her, she was enchanting. She'd managed to win round most of the nations when they met her at the G8 meeting (who knew Veneziano could be so gentle?) and nobody had tried to kill her (although he'd seen Gilbert showing her his scissors…), so that was good. "I guess that means we might owe you $30" he said sheepishly. "But you're too young, so yeah…. Can you show me how to be that loud? Please, I'm being serious. It would be the best thing ever if I won that bet"

"You're seriously asking a three month old baby for lessons in screaming?" Oliver had managed to stop Matt from going unconscious from blood loss, and the nation self-healing thing had fixed his broken nose. Already Al's black eye was less purple. Al shot him a glare.

"So what? If I can win $30 off you, I'll do it." Matt flopped down next to him, being careful not to squash Yasmine. "She wasn't even listening to you. You bored her to sleep." That earned him a whack on the head and Matt reached for his hockey stick.

"Boys! I just fixed you up from your last fight! You're not setting a good example to your sister."

Both twins looked at him. "Oliver…" said Matt slowly.

"Dude, you know she's probably going to grow up as psychotic and violent as we are?"

Matt nodded at his brother. "It's kind of in her blood. She's a 2P, after all."

Oliver looked at them all. "I know that there is an extremely high chance that Yasmine will have the murderous streak, but that doesn't mean I can't hope. Besides, if she does take up our hobbies, I don't want her to think your style of fighting and killing is the correct way; you make such a mess, and the noise…"

"Hey, you've never complained about our killing style before!"

"Yeah, most of the time you come along with us on killing sprees!"

Oliver held up his hands. "Okay, so your style suits you. But I don't want her thinking that's the only way. There are so many other ways, like mine for example…"

"Poisoning people with brightly coloured cupcakes and or torturing them in the basement and making them into ingredients?"

"That's just as messy as our way!"

"Well, fine, mine is a little extreme. But I want her to try and find her own style. She should find her own weapon of choice, rather than be influenced by ours." Matt swung his hockey stick. "I'm just saying I recommend hockey sticks, they're great."

"No way, bats are so much cooler!" Not again… "Boys…" Weapons down. Al gave a small laugh.

"We've probably had the weirdest parenting talk ever: what murdering style you want your daughter to have. They don't put that in parenting books. It would be helpful though." And then they all broke down laughing, and it took a couple of minutes to compose themselves again. Just then, Francois walked in. "Why do you all look so serious?"

"Al's decided to add raising your child as an ideal murderer to parenting books." Matt said this all with a dead straight-face, before they all fell apart again. Even Francois joined in that time.

-Later-

"Hey Matt."

"Yeah, what?"

"We never did work out which of us was louder…."

**Round two, anyone? There is another chapter on the way, for the person who requested France had more father-time with Yasmine. **


	8. Big brother Canada

**Author's Note:**** Hi, here's chapter 8! Our main focus is Canada, who just doesn't get enough love in the manga or the anime. But then that's the job of the fangirls. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Hetalia. But I do own Jasmine (yes I own something!)**

Matthew couldn't quite get his head round the fact he was babysitting Jasmine for the day. Arthur had been called into parliament, and Francis hadn't been able to take her, so Alfred and Matthew had been left in charge of her. However, Alfred, being an idiot, had slipped down the stairs and twisted his ankle. This isn't a problem for nations, they have a self-healing power, so Alfred was currently asleep in his room, whilst his ankle got fixed. So, Matthew and Kuma were babysitting. How hard could it possibly be?

Incredibly hard, as it turned out. One word: teething. Soon after Arthur had left Jasmine had started crying because her gums hurt, but none of the teething rings Arthur had got her really worked. "Aw, Jasmine, there's no need to cry," Matthew picked up the sobbing baby and gave her a hug. "It'll get better, I promise." Spying her favourite toy lying on the kitchen table, he grabbed it and tried to distract her. "Hey Jasmine, look, it's the flying mint bunny! It's come to check on you."

Jasmine's brown eyes instantly locked onto the mint green bunny her brother was waving. Arthur had made it for her and it was her favourite toy in the world. Flying mint bunny was the one thing guaranteed to make her feel better. She reached out a hand to touch it and Matthew gave it to her. She immediately stopped crying and gave a small giggle, hugging the bunny, before progressing to start chewing its ear (luckily it was washable). Thew, he'd managed to get her to stop crying. Kumajiro slowly crawled out from under the sofa.

"Has it stopped crying? And who are you?" Matthew swallowed the urge to yell the answer. "Yes, Jasmine has stopped crying, and for the last time I'm Canada, Kumajigo." Kuma gave a humph and stalked off to the kitchen, where he would wait to be fed. Or raid the cupboards. It depended on how pissed off he was. Speaking of food, it was almost lunchtime. "Hey sis, do you want me to show you how to make pancakes?"

After putting Jasmine safely in her high seat and collecting all the ingredients, Matthew began to explain what he was doing to her. Kumajiro had forgotten to be annoyed, and was sitting close to her chair in hope for a pancake. "And one of the best things about making pancakes is that you can flip them! You just need to make sure you get the coordination right: pancake stains don't come off walls easily. We found that out the hard way when we were little; Francis almost had a heart attack when he saw the state off the kitchen. He said Arthur left it in a better condition when he cooked."

Even though he knew Jasmine couldn't understand anything he was saying, Matthew felt good talking to her. She actually noticed him, and acknowledged his presence. All the time he was talking her eyes followed him, watching him, taking in details so she could tell him apart from his brother. It felt good, knowing that at least somebody could tell them apart (and that he was the preferred brother; Alfred had only held Jasmine twice without making her cry, she never did when Matthew held her). Even if it was a six month old baby.

She was busy babbling to Kuma, who looked bemused by her and waving her bunny. However, as Matthew was putting some pancakes on a plate to take up to Alfred, there was a splash, followed by a crash. He whirled round faster than Prussia when he's annoyed Hungary. Jasmine was covered in flour, somehow. Flying mint bunny had flown across the kitchen, to the sink, which was full with washing up from pancake making. She gave a small sneeze, and blinked several times, before the flour started stinging her eyes and she wailed.

"Maple, how did you do that Jasmine? Look at this mess?" Matthew extracted the now waterlogged bunny from the sink, and wrung him out, before putting him in the washing machine. He picked up the sobbing baby. "How the heck did you get the flour? And where's the ba-" realisation dawned. "KUMAJIRO!" The small bear appeared sheepishly, flour all over him. "Yes?"

"Do you have any idea how Jasmine got covered in flour?"

"No."

"Then it wouldn't have anything to do with you, would it?" The bear was avoiding eye contact.

"No."

"So why are you trying to hide the flour bag by sitting on it?" Busted. He gave a sheepish grin.

"Who are you?"

"I'M CANADA YOU OVERSIZED POM-POM!" Kuma had just successfully proved that Canadian rage existed, and he hastily scarpered. Matthew, still with Jasmine, couldn't go after him because she was still howling. "He is going to be at risk of extinction when your dad gets home" he muttered, wiping her face with a cloth. She didn't like it, but it was better than having flour in her eyes. However, Matthew's maple leaf hoodie and apron ended up with white splodges from her wriggling, making him even more determined to find Kumajiro.

Once they were both cleaned up and they'd both eaten (Jasmine had baby formula and Matthew had what pancakes had survived the flour storm), it was time for Jasmine's nap. But, like most children at nap time, she wasn't tired. Also, she didn't have her flying mint bunny. How could she possibly go to sleep without it? Unfortunately, flying mint bunny was being whirled round a washing machine, so he was missing nap time, which meant Matthew needed to find another way to send her to sleep.

"Come on Matthew, think" he wracked his brains for an idea. What had Francis told him he and Arthur used to do when he and Alfred were babies to send them to sleep? A lullaby. Subconsciously he began to hum '_O Canada', _as it was the first thing he could think of. Jasmine watched him curiously, trying to work out what the sound was. Softly, he began to sing his national anthem.

O Canada!  
Our home and native land!  
True patriot love in all thy sons command.  
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,  
The True North strong and free!  
From far and wide,  
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.  
God keep our land glorious and free!  
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.  
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

As he sang Jasmine slowly drifted off to sleep, lulled by her big brother's gentle and soft voice. She snuggled into his hoodie, feeling safe as she breathed in the sugary-sweet scent of maple syrup and pine. Matthew smiled at the now sleeping baby. "_Doux rêves feuille d'érable" _he whispered, gently caressing her face before putting her down in her crib, and going to face the mess that was the kitchen.

Arthur quietly let himself in through the front door and he visibly relaxed. Ah, home sweet home. He found Matthew in the kitchen, with a very upset Kumajiro (who'd been put on a pancake restraining order for the next month). Jasmine was still asleep, although she'd probably wake up within the next hour. "Thank you so much love" he hugged his son "I honestly can't tell you how grateful I am for you watching her for today. I hope she wasn't any trouble?" Matthew shook his head.

"No Arthur, she was fine. I wish I could say that about some people" he glared at Kuma and he gave a small whimper. "I'd better be going, I've got a flight to catch in the morning." Arthur nodded and ran a hand through his messy blond hair. "I need to put the washing on, so if you'd excuse me" and he went to grab the laundry bin. Matthew was putting his jacket on when Arthur called him from the kitchen.

"Matthew, why are there mint coloured pieces of fabric in the washing machine?"

Shit.


	9. Meet the Kirklands!

**Author's Note: ****Hi, here's chapter 9! My friends have finally found out I write this (waves at Phil and Debowich) so if you're reading this, Hi guys! Thank you all so much for reading, over a thousand of you have read this! From all over the world! You guys are all awesome. In this chapter the Kirkland brothers make an appearance, and I am terrible at accents (Ireland and Scotland's were done on a translator, I didn't even try a welsh accent, use your imagination), so I apologise. Enjoy!**

Arthur nervously played with the collar on his shirt. Damn it, why were his brothers nearly never on time? Today was the day they were meeting their niece for the first time, and England was bloody terrified. How would they react to her? What if they asked too many questions (Alistair would never accept she was the product of a magic spell…) or didn't like her? What if they didn't accept her as family? She looked nothing like any of them. Well, he knew Sealand was keen to meet her, if Sweden had been telling the truth; he reckoned it was the fact he'd no longer be the youngest in the Kirkland family. He cast a glance at his sleeping daughter, cuddling her flying mint bunny, version 2 (**AN: If you don't know what happened to the first flying mint bunny, read chapter 8**). She was in a grey bear sleep suit, and she looked absolutely adorable. But her uncles weren't known for being cute and cuddly. More wild and rebellious (Sealand was an exception). They were the ones who always beat him up when they were little; it drove their mother, Britannia, insane.

Arthur smiled sadly, thinking of Mama Britannia. He hoped she would be pleased he was a father now. She would have loved to meet Jasmine. But Jasmine would never have a grandmother, or a mother for that matter. Lizzy would have loved her too… He was dragged out of his memories by the doorbell ringing. Judgement time.

He opened the door and three men and a kid came in, greeted him and headed to the kitchen.

"Arthur, 'owaya?" Michael (Northern Ireland) gave his brother a hug. Arthur returned it, before being bowled over by a Welshman. "Hi _brawd bach_"

"Hello Bryn" he picked himself up off the floor. Bryn (Wales) laughed nervously. "Ah, I was playing rugby earlier, still in the zone."

"England! England! England!" Peter was bouncing all over the place from excitement. "Look what I got!" he was waving a car sticker in his face. "It's for you, to go in your car!" Arthur took the sticker from him and read it. It said: _Sealand is a nation; it will one day be recognised as a world power. Support us on Facebook! _Arthur sighed and stuck the sticker on his brother's forehead. "Nice try Peter, but for the last time, you are not, and will not be a nation. Good idea to try and trick me into advertising you though, use it on America sometime."

Peter scowled in annoyance. "Damn you, Jerk England! I almost had you!" Suddenly Arthur got a smoke ring in his face and he coughed. "For the last bloody time Alistair, no smoking in my house!"

The red-head smiled "Ah dae it tae annoy ye" Arthur scowled.

"Well stop it, unless you want to risk the welfare of your niece" the other Kirkland brothers glared at the Scot to put out his cigarette, and with a sigh he did. "Sae whaur is thes bairn?"

"Follow me". Jasmine woke up on hearing the entrance of her dad and uncles. However, the noise of Arthur and Alistair's arguing soon made her cry. "Shut up Jerk England and Jerk Scotland! You've made her cry!" Peter yelled. He was very excited about meeting his niece. Arthur dashed over to her and picked her up, and she soon stopped crying. "Arthur, she's so sweet"

"Aye she is" Bryn and Michael had reached an agreement. "Are you kidding me, she's absolutely adorable!" squealed Peter. "She looks nothing like that Jerk England!" Arthur shot him a look. "Shut up you bl-"

"How'd ye get 'er?" Why was it always Alistair asking the awkward questions? "Did it happen ye waur drunk?"

"Eww, Jerk Scotland I don't wanna know!" Michael and Bryn were smirking at each other. Dammit, why did his older brothers enjoy putting him in these situations so much? He flushed red. "No you bloody wankers! If you must know, one of my magic spells went wrong!"

"'tis not de first time you've done dat" Michael took a swig from a bottle of beer he'd brought with him. Bryn nodded "You've done it before" Ireland (Northern) and Wales were the only other brothers who still believed in magic and knew about England's spells. Sealand didn't believe him; he believed he'd outgrown it, whilst Scotland just didn't believe his brother was telling the truth.

"Ye expect us tae believe 'at?" Alistair raised a bushy red eyebrow at his brother. The scowl on Arthur's face became murderous. "Yes, you bloody git, I do. I, unlike you, am a gentleman"

"Except when you're drunk" pointed out Bryn. They'd thought it would be funny to get him drunk at New Year's Eve. The results had been hilarious and terrifying. Jasmine was watching them all curiously, clutching her bunny. "Are we allowed to hold her, Arthur?" Bryn was on tenterhooks. "Yeah Englan' can we?" Michael looked hopefully at him. Peter looked like he was about to wet himself with excitement. Alistair looked indifferent.

Arthur rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine, but don't you dare drop her. Or I guarantee you will be getting hell from me for the next century" Michael carefully took Jasmine off him, making sure to support her head. Nobody wanted an angry England on their tail.

"'owaya wee wan, oi'm yer uncle Mikey, also known as Northern Ireland" he declared triumphantly. Jasmine gave a small giggle; she liked this guy. "Hey Mikey, don't hog our niece" Bryn took her out of Michael's arms.

"Hello, I'm your uncle Bryn, as well as Wales" he cooed. It was funny, seeing the big, burly rugby player going starry eyed over a baby. But cute. "I want to hold her! I want to hold her!" Peter squealed in delight as Bryn passed Jasmine over. "Hello! I'm your uncle Peter, also known as Sealand! I'm a military sea fort in the ocean, left by your dad! He forgot about me. One day, I'll be one of the world's powers!"

"Sealand! I don't want you putting crazy ideas in my daughter's head!"

"But you can't deny it, you know one day it'll come true!"

All too soon, it was time for everyone to go. It was only Arthur and Alistair left in the kitchen. Alistair hadn't interacted much with his niece. He'd just been there, watching his brothers fuss over the baby, and questioned Arthur about how she came into being. He'd given up when he realised his brother was sticking to his claims. Arthur couldn't understand it. Well, he had an idea; Alistair didn't really like children, but he could at least hold her! The Scot had just been watching her.

"What is it Alistair?" Arthur decided to get to the bottom of this.

"What do yoo mean?"

"Why are you acting like this?"

"Acting like what?"

"Like you don't want anything to do with your niece. You're acting like she isn't even here!"

The Scot took a deep breath. "Am aye? Well, excoose me if ah'm not going soft over a wee bairn!"

That was what made the Englishman snap. "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT YOU BLOODY WANKER?! She's your niece, you could at least acknowledge her! But no, the mighty Scotland is too proud to care about things as mere as family!"

Alistair glared at him, green eyes full of anger. Arthur returned the glare with his own eyes holding a look normally seen on the battlefield. The kind of look that made the enemy run screaming or at least feel scared. However, both brothers were used to the looks, and it was a war of attrition between them. Finally Alistair broke it off.

"Is thaht what yoo think?" Arthur nodded. "Yes, I do."

Alistair looked at him flatly. "Well, yer wrong."

"Am I? You've never tried to get on with us, your only family Alistair! And you're shooting my daughter looks of something I cannot describe."

"Do yoo want to know why ah'm acting like this? Do yoo really want to?"

"I'd love you to enlighten me."

"It's because… it's because ah'm jealous." The great British Empire was speechless. Arthur had not been expecting that.

"Y-you're jealous? Of me?"

Alistair sighed and nodded. "Aye, tis true. Ah'm jealous of ye Arthur. There, ah said it. Yoo've got America, Canada, France and now yer've got a daughter. Yoo've got a family other than us, and ah've got no one."

"That's not really true, you've got me, Bryn and Michael-"

"No, ah hardly ever see yoo all. And Bryn and Michael are closer than with us, and Michael's got Roisin (Ireland). Yoo know tis troo Arthur."

Silence. Then…

"Do you want to hold her?" Alistair snapped his head up. "Yoo bein' serious?"

"Yes. Swear on the houses of Parliament. Come on Alistair, she's met all her other uncles. Jasmine met Australia and New Zealand at the World Conference. I think it's time she met Scotland."

"Aye, ay'd love to." Arthur very carefully handed his sleeping daughter to his brother. He took her and gently spoke to her. "Hello, wee bairn. So apparently yoo're my niece. Ay'm yer uncle Alistair, or Scotland. Ah live next door to yer dad, like yer other uncles. Yer dad's a sissy-"

"OI!"

"What, it's the truth! And he can't cook, and ah used to beat him up. But he's a good man, and yer lucky to have him as yer dad. Ay spent too much of my time trying to molecate him to realise that. He's not that bad a brother, and he's not hopeless as a parent either. So, please don't start crying on me. Ay'd appreciate that."

Jasmine had woken up from being picked up, and was trying to work out who the red head was. She gave a smile at him, and that basically melted the cold Scotsman's heart. He gave her another smile, before returning her to Arthur.

"Are ye absolutely sure she's yoors? She seems too charismahtic to be related to yoo."

"Definitely. Yes, she has that effect on people. She managed to make Germany smile, and that takes a lot!"

Alistair checked the time. "Arthur, ay'd better go. I'll miss ma train to Glasgow" Arthur nodded, and led him out. "Yoo know, ye'll be fine as a farther. Yoo did brilliant with America, until he revolted against ye."

"Thank you, I think."

"Ah'll see ye soon, alright?"

"Yes." And with that, his brother left for the train station. Arthur closed the door and slumped. Well, that had been stressful and… happy, as well. Normally meetings in the Kirkland family ended badly, but that went okay. He looked at his sleeping daughter, and gave a small smile. Tucked up next to her was a toy Nessie, with a note on it:

_To Jasmine,_

_From Uncle Alistair with love_

And that was when Arthur decided his brother didn't hate him and his family as much as he'd thought.


	10. Jealousy over Yasmine

**Hi, it's The Monster here, please don't kill me for not updating! Our internet went down, my laptop went funny, I have exams and we went away, so those are my reason for not updating (not to mention writer's block). There is swearing, violence and a bit of blood in this chapter. It's the 2P's, what would you expect? R &amp; R please! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Hetalia. But I do own this idea and Yasmine.**

"Boys! For the last time, when you come home from work could you please leave your weapons round the back!" Oliver rubbed his temples in exasperation. "You keep getting blood everywhere and it takes me forever to clean it up. And I mean everywhere. It got in Yasmine's milk bottles!" That had been extremely unpleasant for everyone (Oliver had almost had a heart attack and Kuma stuck by her as she had a faint smell of blood…). Matt sighed. "Don't blame me, blame Al! I make an effort not to get that much blood everywhere…"

"Matthew Williams, don't just lay the blame on your brother! You are just as responsible for the mess as he is!"

"Fine, we'll make sure to clean up properly next time we kill someone. Right bro?" he looked at his brother, who was playing video games, sprawled out on the sofa.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Ollie, does it really matter that there was a bit of blood in her bottle? It didn't hurt her. She seemed to enjoy it. Why do you even get so worked up over her, anyway? She's just a dumb baby. She takes up all your time, and you can't go out killing and she's made you, Matt and Francis all boring and-"

He stopped as Oliver leapt on him, pressing his knife to his throat. "Don't you dare insult my daughter, Allen. Or you might find someone slipping something into your food" he hissed. Matt glared daggers at Al. "What the fuck, Al? You didn't need to say that. Yasmine's just a kid, what's she ever done to you?"

"Well-"

"Apart from yanking Nantucket." Silence. Francois muttered some french swear words in Al's direction, before going to check on Ollie the kitchen. "Oliver, mon amis, are you ok?" Oliver was cradling Yasmine, who was asleep with her toy flying chocolate bunny. He looked up, blue eyes watery. "Francois," he whispered, hugging her gently, "What did she do to have Allen disliking her? He just avoids her. He enjoys making her cry, for heavens sake! Not even Luciano's that twisted! She's so young yet she has a world superpower hating her. If Al's like this now, how will he act when she's older? I'm scared to leave her alone with him, Francois. I'm scared of what he could do to her."

Francois's carefully guarded emotions threatened to break through at the sight of his lover and best friend in tears. What was wrong with Allen? He took a seat next to the sobbing strawberry blonde, and very carefully put his arms around him. "Sh, zhere is no need for crying, Oliver. I agree, I am worried about Allen's behaviour towards Jasmine. 'owever, zhere must be a reason for his actions, non? So we must try and get to zhe bottom of zhis, oui?"

Oliver nodded."You're right, we need to work out what's wrong with him. Maybe Mattie can help us…" From the living room "DON'T CALL ME THAT!", and then a loud crash and some swearing. Both parents sighed; it was habit. "I will go talk to Matthew to see if 'e will 'elp us". With that he gave the brit a kiss on the forehead and went to go talk to his son. He found Matt with a black eye, swearing in french and english and pulling nails from his arm. Al was gone.

"Are you gonna help me or what?" Matt glared at his father, who was standing in the doorway and smoking. "You're doing fine by yourself. Where did Al go?" Matt winced as he yanked out a nail.

"How the fuck should I know? I told he was out of order; that she was just a kid and he got really pissed off with me. He started going on about how she was taking over our lives and that she was wrecking our family. Then I told him to shut up and he hit me with his bat and gave me a black eye. Then he stormed off before I could beat his ass." Francois took a long draught on his cigarette.

"Do you 'ave any idea why 'e's acting like zhis?"

"I have no fucking idea. He acts like this whenever he's around her, and whenever she's mentioned. It's almost like he's…. He can't be….?" This piqued Francois's curiosity.

"What?"

"It's stupid, theres no way in hell he could-"

"Matthew William's, your father is currently crying 'is eyes out over zhis, so you better spit out your idea before I lose my temper." Matt slowly backed away.

"Well, Al's almost acting like he's jealous." Francois closed his eyes as a rush of emotion flashed through his mind. "Oh. Oh mon dieu." Matt was beginning to panic now.

"Francois? Hello?" he waved a hand infront of his face. "Papa?" That snapped him back to reality. "Papa, what the heck's going on?" Francois just shd him, and pulled out his phone. He dialled a number, and began to speak rapidly into it, walking out of the room. Leaving a very confused Canadian.

Matt decided his other dad might be a bit more helpful. He found him cooing over Jasmine and playing with her bunny. He looked okay. "Oliver, we think we might have worked out why Al's acting like a dick" Oliver's bloodshot eyes narrowed at him, and he threw a coin in the jar. "Continue"

"We think the f- we think he's jealous." Oliver looked confused. "Of Yasmine." That replaced the confusion with worry. "I really hope he's not."

"Why is everyone acting like this? So Al's jealous. Everyone gets jealous. He gets jealous over lots of stuff."

Oliver put Yasmine down and looked Matt in the eyes. The blue now had psychadelic swirls of pink in them. Not good. "Yes Matthew. Everyone gets jealous, especially Al. Yes, he's got jealous before. However, when Al gets jealous over people close to him, it is a whole different level of destruction for him." Matt raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really. Do you remember when you first came to live with Al and I?" Memories flashed through Matt's mind.

"Vaguely." He could remember Al trying to beat the shit out of him."He didn't like me. He still doesn't. Oh, and he tried to kill me on numerous occaisions."

"Yes. Do you know why he did that?" Things were starting to piece together in Matt's mind.

"Bingo poppet. He was terrible when he was younger, and you know he didn't really grow up…"

"So you're saying that because Al's jealous, he could do some serious damage to Yasmine?" he cast a glance at the sleeping baby. Oliver nodded. "But I'm worried about Allen as well. He gets worked up because he feels that he's been replaced, which isn't nice for anyone. He gets it into his head that we'll stop caring about him. He thought I was replacing him when you first came to live with us, which made him even more jealous" He wiped his blue eyes. "I don't like any of my children feeling like that."

Matt carefully hugged his dad. "Then I guess we better find him and prove that we do still love him."

_**-Timeskip brought to you by Oliver's cupcakes-**_

Al sat on the bench in the park, staring into the inky darkness of the night. The only light source was the pale orange street lamp in the distance; the sky was too cloudy for any natural light to make it in. He looked at the blood on his jacket and bat. He was gonna have to ask Oliver to get the stains out- Oh wait, Oliver wasn't here, helping him on a killing spree, 'cause he was too caught up with his _perfect_ and _adorable_ new sister. He felt his rage and annoyance flare up inside him again and he had to squash the urge to go beat in the skull of some drunk idiot.

Stupid sister. Their life used to be fine before she turned up; now look at their family. Francis was actually coming home sober more often than drunk! Oliver was even softer than normal and Matt… He wasn't even gonna start on the change in his brother. He didn't want to have fights over who was stronger or just go out and cause chaos, and end up drunk and in a cell for the night any more! Why? Okay, so he could understand why Matt didn't like getting arrested (Oliver was a scary as shit every time he had to bail them out of jail), but he never used to turn him down to a fist-fight!

Al clenched his fists tightly. What was the point in him getting angry? He was just gonna piss everyone off. Yasmine was actually one of the only good things in their messed up family. Maybe it was good she was there. Maybe she could straighten them out a bit, make them a little less deranged. Maybe it would be better for everyone if he just stepped out of their lives. It wasn't a bad idea. Before he could go start making arrangements to get back to America without anyone being able to track him, a drunken man staggered towards him. "Hey kid," he slurred "You wanna get laid?"

"No chance in hell, motherf*cker" The drunk glared at him, and Al could see he was also high on drugs.

"Don't f*cking speak to me like I'm a piece of sh*t, you little son of a bitch!" Why do drunk Brits swear so much? Al pondered before he felt a knife go into his leg. He yelled and saw the drunk man with his throat cut. A masked man was checking him for belongings. However, two more were currently attacking him; stabbing him where ever they could. His bat was knocked out of his hands and Al couldn't reach it. He punched one guy in the face and he reeled back, but another just leapt on him. He was trying to fight them off, but he was outnumbered, and the amount of times he'd been stabbed and punched…. He didn't want to die without apologising, even though he'd be back by morning. He didn't want to die alone, knowing Oliver currently hated him. Also, it would be difficult walking to Oliver's house covered in blood.

Suddenly two of the men were smashed off him. Al looked up to see a hockeystick swing into the third guy, and a _very_ pissed Canadian swearing at them. "Don't you dare touch my brother, you motherf*ckers" he growled at the whimpering man, who was trying to defend himself, but failing (seeing as the Canadian had just shattered both of his legs). He brought the stick down and there was a crack and then silence. Al could see Francois behind Matt, making phone calls to get the mess cleared up. Then the screaming from the other two men started. Al looked over to see a strawberry-blonde in neon colours with a bowtie sitting by them, with his knife-kit unrolled infront of him. He was playing with what was about to become his special cupcake ingredient.

"Sh, poppet. You'll wake everyone up, including my little girl" He gave the bloodsoaked man his signature Chesire cat smile, before sticking a knife in him. The man howled, but soon stopped when Oliver held a rag to his mouth. "That's what you get for trying to kill my baby boy" He turned to the other guy; his blue eyes swirling with pink in them. The second guy was trying to back away; Matt had only broken one of his arms (**AN: I say only, but compare that to the other guys…**). He got about a metre away, before a hockeystick hit him in the stomach and a knife landed in his back. Oliver crouched over the dying man. "Oh, what a shame we didn't get to play a little game, like with your other friends other there" he gestured to the mutilated corpses. "Still, you've got enough energy to have a little fun, haven't you?" Then he started with his knife.

After a couple of minutes and some chloroform, the park was silent. Francois, Matt and Oliver all crowded round Al. "_Mon dieu_, they did beat you up" remarked Francois.

"Thanks, I hadn't noticed" Al replied drily, before coughing up some blood. Oliver wiped his face with his hankerchief. "You need to stop talking poppet, it won't do you any good." Matt appeared out of no where with a first aid kit, which he tossed at Oliver. "Francois, can you bring the car round to the gate, please?" Oliver asked without even looking up at the Frenchman. He sighed, took a long draught on his cigarette before stomping on it and heading to get the car. "Mattie dear, could you hold you brother down?" Matt pinned Al down, muttering at Oliver not to call him by his nickname.

Pain shot through Al as Oliver started cleaning and stitching up his cuts and stab wounds. "Jesus! I thought you were trying to reduce the pain!" Al watched the amount of medical gauze pile up next to Oliver, each bit bloodstained. He was starting to feel sleepy. "Hey, tofu-brain, don't you fucking dare fall asleep on me" Matt slapped Al's face, jolting him out of his sleep-state. "Matthew, language!" Oliver continued stitching. "Allen poppet, you can't go to sleep."

"But Oliver, I'm really tired" Al didn't understand. Oliver always said he stayed up too late, yet he was telling him off for wanting to sleep? What was the point?

"I know you're tired but you can't go to sleep now."

"Why?". Matt mentally faced palmed. "'cause you'll probably die if you do."

"I'll just come back though."

"That's not the point." Oliver had the best solution to this problem. "Allen Jones, if you fall asleep I will destroy all the tofu burgers in the fridge, and I won't cook anymore for the rest of the year." That worked. "Mattie, don't let me fall asleep."

"I won't. Now shut up." The frantic honking of a car horn alerted everyone that Francois had the car. "Right, Matthew please may you carry Allen to the car" With a nod Matt hoisted up his brother and Al had to bite his lip to stop himself from crying out as he was moved. "Carefully! You'll rip the stitches!" Oliver was dabbing at one of Al's numerous cuts which had started to bleed again. Al felt like he was about to throw up, yet he couldn't. His head was pounding and he just wanted to sleep.

Hey, wait a second. Where was Yasmine?

"Ollie, where's Yazzy?" Al wasn't completely sure what he was saying. Oliver ran a hand through Al's brown hair. "She's at home dear."

"Oh. Wait, you left her by herself?"

"Not completely by herself. She has Flying Chocolate Bunny and Kumajiro watching her." So that meant no one (**If only he knew…**).

"So you all came out here to find me?" Al didn't dare believe it. But Oliver just nodded.

"Yes poppet, we did" A cough came from Francois. "Fine, _most_ of us did. Can you not just admit you care about Allen's well-being?"

"No". "Ah ha!". "Goddammit Oliver!" So Francois didn't hate him that much…. Well that was comforting.

"But isn't it bad to leave a kid her age alone?" Matt nodded. "Yep, but we are more worried about you at this moment." There was silence.

"So you guys left a baby, who shouldn't be left on her own and hasn't done anything to you, alone, to come and find me, the guy who makes your lives hell and generally more difficult?"

"Yes, we already told you" Oliver tutted as he packed up the first aid kit.

"Why? Why would you come find me? Yasmine's good for you guys, she's straightening you out. She's fixing you. I just smash you all to pieces. I'm worthless; a waste of space and air. The world wouldn't miss me if I vanished."

Oliver stopped tidying and looked at Al. He then placed a kiss on his forehead.

"Don't you dare talk about your self like that Allen F. Jones! We would miss you if you left, very much! We do all care about you, though _some of us_ (glares at Francois) don't like to show it."

"Yeah," Matt added. "Besides, if you were gone, who would I get to fight with on a regular basis, have arguments over whose country has the better sport and play drinking games with, without cheating?"

"And" Francois called from the driver's seat "who would drive me to murder people out of pure annoyance? Nobody else 'as zhat quality other zhan you." The car suddenly went over a bump and everyone was jolted. Al felt some stitches rip and warm blood rush from him. He could hear Matt swearing and Oliver talking to him, whilst trying to stop him bleeding. He was tired. Why shouldn't he sleep? His mind felt fuzzy, and warm (if that is a feeling). He felt his body relax, and he heard himself say:

"I'm sorry dad". Then everything went black.

"No! Allen, no!" Oliver cradled his son's head in his hands. Matt felt for a pulse; there was nothing. "Oliver, he's not there. He'll be back tomorrow-" He stopped at the glare his dad was sending him.

"That's not the point" he hissed. "The point is my baby boy just died, and it could have been prevented. So easily prevented." He stroked Al's cheek. "I'm sorry too, Allen. Daddy loves you very much, you should know that".

The car pulled up outside of Oliver's house, and Matt carefully picked up his brother and took him to his room, where they where going to clean him up. Yasmine gave a small whimper as they came in, and Francois shd her. When she went back to sleep everyone went upstairs to check on Al. Already some of his cuts were healing. Later Oliver sat with him, watching him in his sleep. He just whispered over and over again how sorry he was. Slowly life came back into Al's body. Slowly.

_**-Another Timeskip, also brought to you by Oliver's Cupcakes-**_

Ow. That was the first thought in Allen's head. Just ow. He felt like he'd been runover by one of Oliver's doubledecker buses. Twice. And there was something on his chest. He looked down and saw… Yasmine, fast asleep. His mind was screaming at him to shove her off, or yell for someone to move her, but something was stopping him from doing that. She was so tiny, and kinda cute. Wait, what? Well, she's a baby, but still…..

The door opened to reveal Oliver, with a tofu burger and a coke. Al's face lit up. "That's a weird kinda breakfast."

"It's lunchtime, and I can always take the burger away."

"No, please no!" Oliver handed the fast-food to him, and he set out to demolish it. Unknown to the others in the room, Yasmine woke up at the sound of her brother eating and a she was watching him and her dad talk with interest. When she started to move Al remembered she was there.

"Oh yeah, um Oliver, your kid is kinda asleep on me. Could you move her?" The Brit just smiled and shook his head. "Nope. She's quite comfortable there, and if she was really bothering you we would know about it from the moment you woke up."

Al scowled. "It is bothering me. Why the heck is she even on me?"

"Sibling bonding."

"You're making me do sibling bonding? Remember when you made me and Matt do that when we were younger?"

"Yes. You were so cute together!"

"Oliver, we hated every second of it. We always ended up trying to kill each other."

"Ah, but you enjoyed trying to kill each other, and that made you grow closer together!" He had a point.

"Well, I think we've done enough sibling time for one day." Reluctantly Oliver picked up Jasmine. However, she started howling the moment she was moved from her comfy spot. Quickly he put her back down and her crying stopped. Al uncovered his ears.

"It looks like you're stuck with her". Al sighed. "But I don't want her on me…"

"Really?"

"Yes! No, maybe…. Argh, why is she so cute!" He slapped a hand to his mouth. That was not meant to come out.

"I knew you didn't really hate her" smiled Oliver, his eyes swirly with happiness.

"I'm kinda shocked you just admitted it" a Canadian accent drawled from the doorway. "I think I might keep a a picture of this moment as a memory" he waved his camera at his brother.

"MATTHEW WILLIAMS DON'T YOU DARE TAKE A PHOTO!" Snap. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU NOW GIVE ME THAT CAMERA!"

Oliver quickly picked up his daughter as Al leapt up to try and murder Matt. So much for a peaceful, family moment. Yasmine looked sad as both of her brothers left. She wanted to go with them. "One day, dear, one day you'll be as old as them, and you'll probably be chasing them as well" He remarked, then smiled down at her. "Come on, let's go find them" There was a crash. "And stop them from doing any real damage."

**Finished! Wow, that was longer than expected. Next chapter will hopefull be up in the next two weeks, however I have exams to study for, so I won't have as much time for Fanfiction. I'm sorry.**


	11. Baby Steps

**Author's Note:**** Hello dear readers! Here's a new chapter! Back to the 1P's, and a significant event in Jasmine's life is occurring!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. I do however, own the plot and Jasmine. So there.**

Ten months. That was how long Jasmine had been in Arthur's life. Ten months since he'd found her in the pouring rain, in the middle of the night in a thunderstorm. Ten months of sleepless nights, cold tea and visits from countries. Ten months of juggling meetings with feeding times, worrying over sniffles and panicking over how well a father he was. But he wouldn't have given up those past ten months for anything. Jasmine had filled a hole in his life he didn't know he had, and she was fixing the gaps in his heart which hadn't been filled since he'd lost America. She was a welcome distraction to being a nation. She made him feel human. He couldn't imagine life without her.

However, like all new parents, he worried about her. Is there something wrong with her because she won't stop crying? Is it fine that she hasn't tried to walk? Arthur found himself worrying over every little thing she did and didn't do. He looked down at Jasmine, who was sitting close to his desk, with her mint bunny and building blocks. She'd learnt to sit up properly, and she was enjoying viewing the world at a different height. She had also mastered crawling. Before he knew she would be able to walk. She was growing so quickly, _too_ quickly for his liking.

Jasmine looked up at her father, who was meant to be working on his laptop, but was watching her instead. She picked up her bunny and waved it at him. Arthur smiled at her. Then he was hit in the face by a green bunny. He glared crossly at her, but she just started giggling due to his eyebrows. Arthur slammed his laptop shut. He wasn't going to get any work done with Jasmine around, so he might as well spend some time with his daughter. He decided to take some more photos of her. When he was raising Alfred and Matthew there had been moments he'd desperately wanted to hold onto; they were ingrained into his memory, but he wanted to have a physical copy. Now cameras had been invented he could.

Grabbing the silver digital from the dresser, he bent down to his daughter's height. "Jasmine, look at daddy" she turned her head and looked at him curiously, as Arthur snapped away. He'd almost filled the memory card with pictures. He only had enough space for a few more. Jasmine had lost interest by now and had crawled across the room; whilst her father had been focusing on his camera and was going through the memory, trying to delete some photos to create more memory, but failing (he didn't want to throw away a single picture of his daughter).

There were so many pictures of her: pictures from when they first found her, when she met everyone at the world meeting, of her older brothers playing with her. Then there were ones he hadn't taken; some had been taken by Francis (those were of when Jasmine had fallen asleep on him, and he'd also fallen asleep), others had been taken by the boys when they were babysitting (like when Al had snuck downstairs and got one of Mattie singing her to sleep (**Chapter 8 people**)) and some from when she met the other young nations (there were a couple of her being held by the offspring of various nations: Glasgow, Madrid, Rome, Cairo and the Berlin Twins to name a few.)

Arthur looked up to see Jasmine on the other side of his study, near the desk. She had pulled herself up, so she was standing, holding the desk leg. That was another new thing she had learned; pulling herself up. This would make a good picture. "Jasmine" he called. She gave him a small smile, then let go of the table leg. She was standing. Unsupported. Arthur took another picture. "Well done love" he cooed. That was when she took a step. Albeit, it was very small and very wobbly, but it was her first step. Then another. And Arthur was now frantically taking photos as his daughter was now attempting to make her way towards him. He was so proud of her at that moment.

Then Jasmine tripped over. She landed on the floor with a bump and she started crying. Arthur rushed over to pick her up, but something stopped him. A memory from long ago, before time was really recorded, resurfaced.

_**-Flashback: somewhere around the start of the first century, or just before-**_

_A small blond haired boy toppled over, mere moments after taking his first steps. He began howling. Several people were watching; the boy's parents and his brothers. "Albion, don't you think we should help him?" Britannia looked at her husband, worriedly. Their youngest son, Arthur, had just taken his first steps and fallen. The other boys were watching. "Da, can't we go an' help him?" Michael asked gently. Bryn uncovered his ears and tugged his father's sleeve. "Please da, he looks so helpless. Can we?" Alistair, the eldest, was getting officially annoyed. "He won't stop crying! It's really annoying! Can't we just put him out of his misery?"_

"_QUIET!" Albion lost his temper. The boys instantly shut up. Britannia glared at her husband. "Albion! Don't you dare use that tone of voice on me or the lads!"_

"_Sorry love" Albion sheepishly gave his wife a kiss._

"_Why can't we show him how to walk?" She asked him. Albion sighed._

"_Because we need to see what he's made of. Times are changing, and the boys futures are all going to be difficult. Arthur though, has the hardest one of all. We need to know how England will fare in challenging situations, and whether he's strong enough to get back up every time he's knocked down. We need to know he can look after himself. And the best way to work this out is by watching how he reacts the first time he falls down. That's why we can't help him."_

_The family was silent, watching the little boy trying to get up. He was struggling; trying to coordinate himself so he could push himself back up. It was harder than it looked. But after a lot of effort, Arthur Kirkland finally managed to get back on his feet. He stopped crying and grinned triumphantly at his parents. His brothers were cheering (although Alistair was because he'd stopped sobbing), Albion had a small smile on his face, full of pride and Britannia rushed over to him and scooped him up, frantically checking him for injury and telling him how proud she was._

_That was the first triumphant for the British Empire…_

_**-Present Time-**_

Arthur watched Jasmine on the floor. He should help her, but the memory stopped him. He needed to check; to see how she would cope with the things life would throw at her. She was trying to push herself up, but she was failing. She shot Arthur a look which said _you-are-my-caretaker-so-why-aren't-you-helping-me _and he had to look away from the hard glare coming from her glowing brown eyes. He was fighting all the urges to pick her up, and returned the glare with one of his _I–am-not-going-to-help-you_ looks normally saved for America. Jasmine seemed to realise this, so went about trying to help herself.

After many tries, most of Jasmine strength was gone. She gave one final push up. And she made it up. She stood up, shaking. But she was up. Arthur's face broke into a smile and like Britannia all those years ago picked up his daughter and started checking her for injuries. Jasmine gave a small cry when Arthur lifted her up, but it was because she was pleased her dad was paying attention to her. Arthur had recorded and photographed Jasmine trying to get back up. It was one of those moments he wanted to keep hold of, and show people. But first, he needed to put someone down for her nap.

_**-Later-**_

"Dude, why are you calling me? It's twelve at night?" Alfred was not very happy with his brother calling him.

"You're normally awake at twelve every night!"

"I am busy saving the world from zombies!"  
"That's not important right now!"

"Dude, you just got my brains eaten! How could you let this happen to your own brother?" Matthew face-palmed on the other end of the phone. His brother was very melodramatic when it came to video games.

"Look, Francis told me to call you to tell you about Jasmine." That got his brother's attention.

"WHAT?! Did something happen? Is Arthur alright? Dude, why didn't you tell me?!" Matthew rolled his eyes.

"I tried to, idiot. You were too busy complaining about me interrupting your messed up sleep pattern!"

"Look dude, just tell me what happened!"

"Jasmine took her first steps today. Arthur caught it on camera and got photos."

"Dude, that's brilliant. But couldn't he have waited 'til the morning?"

"No. Firstly, in the morning you aren't normally awake, unless someone's forced you up and secondly, you call us all at random times for dumb achievements, like completing a video game! I think this deserves some of your _oh-so-precious_ gaming time!"

Alfred felt guilty after his brother pointed this out. He had a point, but it had been _SO_ satisfying completing Luigi's mansion…

"Look, just call Arthur when you get a chance, okay? He's so happy right now, and you calling would be the maple on the pancake."

"Isn't the saying meant to be-"

"I KNOW WHAT THE SAYING IS! Just call Arthur, please? Thank you. And try and go to sleep at a decent time, okay?"

And with that the Canadian hung up. Alfred shook his head, and scrolled through the phone book, looking for Arthur's number. He dialled it.

"Hello?"

"Dude, my little sister just tried to walk! You must be so proud!" Arthur smiled, and cast a glance at the sleeping baby. "Yes," he said with a smile. "You have no idea."

**Sorry if the age doesn't match up to the development. The research I did said babies start trying to walk between 9 and 12 months. If it's wrong, just put it down to nation's developing slightly faster than humans. If it isn't, go with it.**


	12. Bring your daughter to work day!

"Come on poppet, you need to eat up! We've got a big day today!" Oliver was cooing at baby Yasmine, who was currently refusing to eat her baby food. "Come on, one more spoonful, for daddy?" She gave a small smile and said "Dada". That was the only word she knew, but they were working on it. She then knocked her bowl so Oliver got mushed apple all down him. "Yasmine! That wasn't very nice!" Yasmine gave a small giggle. Oliver sighed. This reminded him of meal times with Al and Matthew when they were younger (and occasionally now). Yasmine now had apple down her baby grow as well. "Let's get you cleaned up" and took her upstairs.

Oliver finished adjusting his bow-tie and checked his watch. They were running late. He looked down at Yasmine in her carrier, hugging flying chocolate bunny. She was wearing a dark pink ruffle skirt, with a pale pink shirt with a sparkly cupcake on it, along with pink and purple striped tights. He was pleased with her outfit. Today Yasmine was coming to the bakery with him, as he couldn't get anybody to watch her, not that he minded. He just hoped she would behave.

The walk to the bakery had been uneventful, apart from the odd person stopping and cooing over Yasmine, who'd fallen asleep. There were mainly commuters. Oliver was glad to step inside his sugar pink shop and get away from the bustle of the crowd. It was tucked away, down an alley, off the main road. He tied on his pink apron and turned to his daughter. "Okay poppet, today Daddy's going to make cupcakes!" Yasmine was ignoring her father; she was too busy taking in the colours, shapes and smells of Oliver's bakery. He gave her a smile, the placed her in the play pen in the corner. It was normally used by customers with young children, but today Yasmine would be staying there. He flipped the open sign on the door. "Get ready poppet, today you meet the outside world".

The first hour of business was calm. Nobody was really up yet. However, as lunchtime neared, things started to get busier. Some tourists came in and bought some Union Flag cupcakes, several people came in to pick up orders and Oliver took two phone calls about cupcake for weddings. However, Yasmine was now getting bored. She had an extremely active mind and blocks and teddies could keep her occupied for only so long. So she decided to try and get out of her play pen.

Surprisingly, it was an easy job. She didn't have to do anything. A lady with blonde hair walked into the shop, a business women. She placed her bag on the counter. "Hello, I'm here about placing an order of cupcakes for a business party" Oliver nodded from behind the counter. "Sounds fun. Tell me poppet, how many do you need and what flavour? Do they need a theme?" The lady shook her head. "There's no theme, just 50 chocolate and vanilla cupcakes: 25 chocolate and 25 vanilla, please"  
"Icing?"  
"Buttercream" Oliver nodded. "Okay, I just need to go a rack that total up with the till round the back. I'll be two ticks" and he was gone. Yasmine watched the lady pull out a microphone and start speaking into it from her play pen.

"Okay, I'm in the suspect's shop. What do you mean, is there anything suspicious? It looks like the set from a Katy Perry music video! It's all pink, with swirls of other neon colours. It hurts to look at! Oh, and there is a lot of cupcakes. It's in a weird location for a cupcake shop; it would make more sense to put it on the main road, where more people could see it, to get more customers. I wonder how he stops vandals." She caught sight of Yasmine, who reached out her bunny. "Hold on, there's a kid here! Well, a baby, in a pen. It could be his, but it looks nothing like him. Maybe it belonged to one of his victims? Crap, he's coming back" She shoved her phone into her bag.

"Here's your bill ma'am" Oliver flashed her a smile, eyes shining. "Also, some samples of our cupcakes."

"Oh um, thank you. The little honey in the pen is so cute! May I ask if she's yours?" Oliver nodded and picked Yasmine up, who had her arms outstretched. "Yes, Yasmine is. It's her first proper outing today, isn't it poppet?" Yasmine gave a giggle in response. "Dada" she cooed, wriggling. Oliver gave a laugh and kissed her forehead.

"So where's her mother?" Oliver stopped smiling. Technically, Yasmine actually had no biological mother. However, to humans that would be impossible. So the cover story that Oliver had devised was either that Yasmine's mother was dead, or that she'd left Yasmine with Oliver after she'd been born; whichever one fitted the situation best. "Yasmine's mum is… no longer here" Oliver avoided eye contact, occupying himself with Yasmine, who was still squirming. She was trying to reach the lady.

"May I ask what happened?"

"Her mother died in an… accident" The lady was suspicious. Why was he avoiding eye contact? Did he have something to do with the accident? Just then, Yasmine gave a whimper. Oliver quickly put her onto the counter. "Oh, sh poppet, daddy's got a customer!" Yasmine just pushed the lady's bag onto the floor; its contents going everywhere. The lady gasped. "Yasmine! I'm so sorry, she's normally extremely well behaved!" Oliver began helping her pick up her things. "Hang on, what's this?" In his hands was a small microphone. Crackling through it, a man's voice could be heard calling. "Hello, Cassy? Are you there?"

"Well well, it looks someone's been spying on us" He snapped it, then crushed it with his foot. Oliver picked up Yasmine who, now satisfied with her work, snuggled down. "Well done, poppet" he whispered. Just then there was a clicking noise and Oliver turned back to Cassy. She had a pistol pointing at his head. "Careful dear, you could hurt someone with that." She shook a strand of hair from her face. "Mr Kirkland, you are in no position for being cocky. You are a mass kidnap and serial killer suspect." Oliver just smiled, his blue eyes slowly clouding with pink swirls. "Am I now? That's a surprise" Cassy flinched under his gaze; it was really unsettling.

"You are believed to be behind the disappearances of over twenty people. And kidnap of a child" She motioned at Yasmine. Oliver looked offended. "I beg your pardon, but I've told you the truth. This child is mine." His eyes were almost completely pink now, they only had the odd swirl of blue. Cassy snorted. "Of course she is. And the other victims? What did you do to their kids? Drop them off at the care home?" She didn't expect an answer.

"They had no families. Or friends. That's why I chose them." She looked at him. Was he confessing? "That's not the point." Oliver just gave her an infuriating smile. "Maybe, but it was fun. Besides, I need ingredients" Cassy paled. "You sick f*cked up bastard." Then Oliver snapped off his Cheshire cat smile. "Swear jar. Really Miss Cassy, you shouldn't swear in front of children." What kind of serial killer was this?

"You are responsible for a very long list of deaths and disappearances" Oliver nodded.

"Yes, I suppose I am. And you're name's going to be joining the list very soon" Cassy gripped her gun tighter. "No, it's not. You, however, will be going behind bars." Oliver cocked his head, more focused on the baby in his arms than the girl with the gun. "And the kid will go to a safe place; somewhere better than having a serial killer for her dad". Now Oliver was really offended. And slightly bored.

"Really Miss Cassy? It's been fun talking to you, but you're making accusations with no proof, and you're refusing to acknowledge the truth, which you already know. You're not walking out of this bakery alive."

"You're wrong-"

"Nope. It's rather sweet, your determination, but your time is ticking away. In a few more seconds your life will be fading away"

"How many times do I need to tell you, I'm not letting you kill-"

Cassy coughed. Blood. Her body felt like it was on fire, like there was acid in her veins. It felt like someone was twisting her stomach and guts into crazy, painful knots. Her head was pounding and she felt light-headed, and she realised it was becoming harder to breathe. She fell to the floor. Cassy could feel her heart get slower and slower. Jesus, it was painful. Oliver walked over to her, smiling like the Cheshire cat. "You know, you shouldn't accept food from strangers, poppet." Cassy's eyes wandered to the samples. Oliver kept talking. "I told you you'd be joining that list". Cassy could only cough up blood.

Yasmine however started to cry at the sight. Oliver sighed. "It looks like you're scaring my baby girl. Well, we can't have that now". He put Yasmine back in her pen, with flying chocolate bunny and grabbed Cassy by the wrists and dragged her to the door behind the counter. She tried to scream, but her voice wouldn't work. She was paralysed. They were in the kitchen, which was spotless. Was he going to bake her or something? Oliver pressed one of the tiles on the wall, and a door swung open. The basement. Cassy looked in horror at the knives on the wall as Oliver strapped her down onto a wooden table. He locked the door.

"Now poppet, this is where the fun begins."

The rest of the day was uneventful. It was late in the evening when the last customer walked in. Oliver didn't bother to look up from the playpen at the man. "Romano, how are you and your brother?" Romano pulled off his designer glasses and smiled. "How you do that Oliver amazes me. We're both fine". Oliver gave him a hug. "Oh, so this must be the famous Yasmine! _Una ragazza dolce_!" Oliver smiled as Romano held Yasmine, who was fascinated with his scarf. "So Romano, what brings you to the shop?"

"My brother and I are holding a birthday party for Grandpa, and Veneziano would like to place an order for some… special cupcakes." Oliver's face broke into a huge grin. "Excellent! I haven't had an order for special cupcakes in a while! You're in luck, I've got some fresh ingredients in the basement!"

The blood on his bowtie proved it.

_**Una ragazza dolce**_** – a sweet girl**


	13. The LGBT Pride Parade

**Author's Note:**** This is for the LGBT Pride parade in London today! In this, London is quite a bit older than in previous chapters (she's in her early teens!). From now on, the chapters won't be in age order. She may be a toddler in one, but a teenager in the next. But for now, just enjoy and support this worthy cause!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.**

"Dad! Francis! Hurry up! We're going to be late for the parade!" Jasmine Kirkland, AKA the personification of London, was standing by the door wearing an… unusual outfit. She was wearing rainbow stripe t-shirt, rainbow leggings with stars on, rainbow converse and rainbow glitter spray all over her black hair. Her purple rucksack had rainbow flag pinned to it, along with several rainbow badges. "Just coming, love" Arthur called down the stairs, whilst trying to tie his rainbow bowtie. "_Ma Cherie_, she's right. We are going to be late" Francis peered round the door, wearing an extremely stylish rainbow shirt, with a rainbow rose tucked in the pocket. "I know! Let me finish tying my tie!" Giving the bow one last pull, he was satisfied. Jasmine clicked her tongue in frustration as they came down the stairs. "Come ooon! We're gonna miss it!"

As they arrived at Baker Street, crowds of people dressed up in rainbow colours milled around. The atmosphere was electric. Arthur kept a firm grip on Jasmine's hand, despite her groaning she was old enough not to need her hand held. Francis just laughed, whilst Arthur scowled and started reeling a list of reasons why he needed to make sure he knew where she was. As they wove through the crowd, towards the start point, Jasmine suddenly let out a squeal and tugged herself out of Arthur's grip, dashing into the crowd.

"JASMINE ANNE KIRLAND GET BACK HERE NOW!" Arthur roared whilst tearing off after her. "Alfie! Mattie!" She flung herself on the two identical twins. "Jasmine!" they both hugged her. "Hey dudette! How's our favourite little sis?" Alfred ruffled her hair. He was decked out in an American flag t-shirt, only the red and white stripes had been replaced by a rainbow. "I'm good! I heard your country legalised same-sex marriage in all states! That's brilliant!" She hugged him again, before turning around to the other twin, who was wearing a t-shirt with the Canadian flag on it, but the red stripes replaced with rainbow. "Of course though, Canada's been doing it for ten years now" Matthew gave her a small, but proud smile. "Yep. A decade before burger-brain".

"HEY!" All three of them whirled round to see Arthur (who was glaring) and Francis (who was smiling, and trying to calm Arthur down). "Yo Artie, good ta see ya!" Arthur was glomped by Alfred, whilst Matthew was glomped by Francis. Jasmine stood back, giggling.

"_Privet malyutka._" "_Hallo, Fräulein."_ Jasmine nearly jumped out of her rainbow converse from surprise. She glanced behind her and saw Prussia and Russia standing behind her, both of them smiling. For the occasion, Ivan had swapped his usual scarf for a rainbow one, and had a small rainbow flag on the corner of his shirt. She giggled at Gilbert's outfit. Or more accurately, his hair. Rather than its usual white colour, it had been transformed into a rainbow, which had been painstakingly coloured on with sharpies. Even Gilbird had been caught in the rainbow!

"Vhat do you zhink of mein awesome hair?" Jasmine couldn't help but laugh. "It does look awesome."

"Luddy, Roderich, Liz und Feli helped me colour it in on zhe flight here. Vell, Feli was zhe only one who vanted to do it. I made zhe ozhers!"

"DUDE, YOUR HAIR LOOKS SO TOTALLY AWESOME!" Alfred had just realised the others had arrived. "_Mon amis_, it looks _tres chick. Ohononononon!_" Francis joined in over one of his best friends' hair colour. "Birdie! Zhere you are!" Matthew was glomped again, this time by his boyfriend. "Gil, you were gone for five minutes…"

"I know, but I'm allowed to miss you!" And with that he gave him a peck on the forehead. Ivan wrapped his hand round Alfred's waist. "I tried to get back here quickly with the coffee, but my sister made that difficult…"

"Aw, dude, don't sweat it! The hero will grab some later!" Ivan blushed as Alfred gave him a quick kiss. Suddenly a camera flashed and there was Elizabeta, trying to stop her nosebleed whilst fangirling. "YOU TWO ARE SUCH A SWEET COUPLE!" She was on a spree, photographing all the country couples. Roderich came running behind her. "Elizabeta you need to ask and make people avare before you photograph zhem; you get too crazy with it and I shudder to think vhat you are planning with those photos and-"

He was cut of mid rant by Italy hugging him. "Austria! Itsa so good to see you again!" Ludwig yanked him off. "Feliciano, how many times have I told you not to greet everybody vith hugs?!"

"Aw, I'm sorry Ludwig. Hey, I'll just keep all my hugs for you, _sì_?" Feliciano suddenly wrapped himself round Ludwig. Ludwig's face went the same shade as Romano's tomatoes. Speaking of which…

"Potato bastard! Keep your hands off of _mi fratello_!" Antonio silenced Romano with a kiss. "Sh, you promised not to do this now"

Tino and Berwald joined them, hands clasped. You could see their engagement rings. Hanatamago was wearing a knitted rainbow jumper and Peter was holding his lead, with a rainbow sailor hat in place of his usual one. He instantly set himself the task to piss off his older brother.

Oh yeah. There was another reason why all the world's nations were at the parade, other than being gay and supporting it. The parade was going to start with the flags of every nation at the start. And they, the nations, would be the ones carrying them. With pride. "Would the flag bearers please gather over by the help desk?" A voice resonated through a megaphone across the streets.

"Everyone! That's us!" yelled Jasmine, who was getting hyped. "Dudette, I bet I can beat you to the desk!" "No you can't!" And with that they were off. And Arthur had to chase Jasmine for the second time that morning.

It was time. Time for the parade to begin. Everyone stood there, lined up, holding their flags. Ireland, Mozambique and America were at the front, as they had had the most LGBT progress recently. England and the other countries were closely behind. The music started to play. And they started to walk. Arthur stood tall, the Union Flag fluttering gently. Next to him was Jasmine. Unlike the others, she was carrying the normal LGBT flag. She was allowed to do this as she was London.

That day, London learnt what it felt like to be a real nation. To feel the pride of her people, their hope and enthusiasm bubble in her as she walked down the streets. She felt immensely proud, that HER citizens were fighting for equality. And she would help them every step of the way. However long it would take.


	14. 7th of July 2005

**Author's Note:**** This is a tribute to the 7/7 bombings in London. This was the first suicide attack in England and the worst terrorist incident in the UK since 1988. This was a dark day in British history and it and the people who suffered because of it should never be forgot.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia but I do own the OC.**

It had started out as a normal summer's day. It was a Thursday, and everyone was trying to get to work. It was the rush hour and the tube and buses were packed, even more so due to delays. It was sunny and London was bustling with tourists and commuters, even though it was early. Arthur was making some tea and reading the newspaper, whilst a three year old Jasmine was watching Cbeebies. She got up and toddled over to him, mint bunny trailing behind her.

"Daddy, I don't feel well" She looked up at him, her brown eyes wide and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I think you should go up and get changed, then if you still don't feel better you can have some Calpol. Okay?" She nodded. "Okay daddy." She then ran off and he could hear her footsteps thumping as she climbed up the stairs. He rolled his eyes and went back to his tea. That was when he felt the pain in his chest.

Jasmine was upstairs, changing. She'd just finished putting on her green t-shirt again (as she'd put it on back to front) when she felt pain like she'd never felt before. She fell to the floor and curled up in a ball, whimpering. She looked down to see red seeping through her t-shirt. She felt tears fall down her face. She heard herself screaming, for daddy.

Arthur spat out blood in the sink. Great, something bad had just happened somewhere in England. He clutched the counter-top, knuckles almost white from pain. He wondered where- Suddenly he heard Jasmine screaming and he bolted, stumbling slightly on the stairs. "JASMINE!" he yelled, flinging the door open. She was curled up on the floor, unconscious. Surrounding her was a small pool of blood, which her t-shirt was soaked in. Arthur felt another shot of pain stab him and he saw Jasmine flinch and moan. He could see more bleeding start, this time coming from another part of her shirt. "Shit. Jasmine, love can you hear me?"

Jasmine made no attempt of response. Her breath was laboured and all colour was draining out of her tanned skin. Arthur felt something wet on his shirt. He looked down to see crimson blossoming on his shirt and the world started to spin. This was getting serious. Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile, fumbling over the buttons. He scrolled through his contacts, searching for the right one. Unfortunately, he couldn't just call an ambulance due to him being a nation, which would create some weird result in hospital tests. So nations had a special international government run medical system instead. White spots flashed in front of his eyes and Arthur started to panic. Finally he found the right number and hit the call button, crumpling onto the floor and leaning against the chest of draws, wheezing. He reached out his hand and slowly stroked Jasmine's head. "It'll be okay love".

"This is GOVCO medical system, London division. Please state your code of authorisation." Arthur gulped; his throat dry. "This is code: red, white and blue." There was pause, before a buzz and someone picked up the phone. "Hello, please state your emergency." He let out a sigh of relief. "Hi. This is Kirkland one, there are two casualties, including myself. Please send an ambulance and hurry!" all Arthur could feel was pain. The phone slipped out of his hand as his mind became clouded over and he slumped over. The voice on the phone was panicking, talking rapidly. But nobody could hear it. Great Britain had fallen.

*- - - - - - - - - - - - - - _Time-skip_ \- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"_Angleterre_, can you 'ear me?" "Doc, are you sure he'll be okay?" "Arthur, please wake up!"

Arthur slowly opened his eyes. His head was pounding and his body ached. "Ow…" he groaned. Francis, Alfred and Matthew rushed over to his bed. "Dude, you're alive!" Alfred cheered and hi-fived Matthew. Francis kissed him, tears in his eyes. "I thought I 'ad lost you" Arthur could see he was now in a hospital, as everything was white. He pushed himself so he was sitting up. "W-what happened?"

"Some bastards set off some bombs. Zhe paramedics found you unconscious, curled up over Jasmine" Arthur looked around the room. He raised a bushy eyebrow. "Francis, where's Jasmine?" Francis' eyes filled with tears and he looked away. Arthur looked at the others. Alfred was avoiding his intense gaze and Matthew fiddled with his hoodie. "Well?" Matthew took a deep breath and came to sit by his bed. "Arthur, the bombs went off on the London transport systems." He said slowly, fighting back tears. Arthur paled and started to get himself out of his hospital bed. "Where is she? I need to see her!" Alfred gently pushed him back down. "Dude, just listen." Matthew continued.

"The attack killed 52 people and injured over 700. The transport system is vital to London, as I'm sure you know. The attack it, it- oh maple I can't make this any softer. Arthur, the attack caused severe injury to her heart. It, it was worse because she's younger. It also caused deep lacerations on her chest and stomach, similar to stab wounds. She was in the surgery for over six hours. But, she's fine! Sort of…"

"What do you mean, sort of?" Arthur snarled. Alfred took over. "He means that the operation was a success. However, to try and speed up the healing process her body sent her into a coma. But the doctors are unsure how long she'll be like that, as the healing process in cities is different from ours." Arthur flopped back, drained. "W-when can I see her?" he whispered. "Zhe doctor said soon after you'd woken up and zhey 'ad run some tests on you. I brought you some of your clothes so you can change and I'll go and tell zhe nurse you're up." Francis, having recovered, dumped a union flag bag on the bed. Arthur gratefully took it and went to get out of his hospital gown.

After having his medical check the doctor led them all to the room where Jasmine was. Arthur felt his eyes fill with tears at the sight of her. She was hooked up to a heart monitor and an oxygen mask over her face. He could see bandages wrapped round her torso. She was completely still and pale; a shell of her former self. Arthur sat down in the chair next to her bed. He couldn't believe, didn't want to believe that the girl in the hospital bed was her. "We'll give you some time alone". Silently everyone filed out until it was the two of them left.

"'Ello love" he whispered, gently holding her hand. "They told me what happened. I think, that you're being very brave about all this. I want you to know that I'm proud of you and that I love you." For a while he just sat there, holding her hand, watching her breathing and the heart monitor. Finally the nurse came in and told him his time was almost up. He nodded and she left. "I've got something for you, love. Matthew thought you might want it when Francis packed my bag" he reached into his bag. "Flying mint bunny missed you!" He tucked the mint coloured rabbit next to her. "I'm really sorry, but I've got to go now. I'll come back tomorrow. I'll come back every day until you wake up. Bye for now love". He lent over a placed a kiss on her forehead, before smiling sadly and leaving.

Jasmine had been in a coma for over a week. Every day the hospital scanned her and they could see that her body was slowly fixing itself. The cuts on her torso were healing and slowly fading away, whilst her heart had repaired almost all the damage. She could wake up at any day. Arthur, Francis and Matthew spent a lot of time in the hospital, for fear they would miss her waking up. They were all there when she did.

Matthew had come flying to the cafeteria, panted and managed to excitably tell them she'd moved. Arthur had started crying when they walked into the room to see her eyelids flicker open. "Hi Daddy" she whispered, in a small voice which sounded nothing like her own. The doctors were all over her, doing tests and asking her questions. Her family sat round her.

"Hey dudette." She smiled at Alfred, whilst the doctor did a test with his stethoscope. "Hey." He pointed to her chest, then unbuttoned his shirt, to reveal a faded scar across his heart. "You got a scar, same as me." She peered down. "Oh. I didn't realise."

"Kumajiro misses you. He keeps asking about you" Matthew said, propping up mint bunny on the pillow. "I've missed everyone! I missed Bastille Day Francis, _je suis desoleé!_" The Frenchman ruffled her hair. "It does not matter, _petite fleur_. What matters is you are better." Arthur just locked his arms around her, holding her tightly to him. Jasmine buried herself into his shirt, taking in the smell of Earl Grey tea, books and slightly burnt food. All comforting scents, all reminding her of home.

"I missed you daddy" she whispered, so quietly only he could hear her. He looked down to see she was crying and a wet patch had formed on his shirt. "I missed you to Jasmine. I thought, I thought that- that I was going to lose you." He was crying to. "And I could never survive if I lost you Jasmine."

Jasmine gasped at the sight of her father crying. "Don't cry daddy, you're making mint bunny sad. He needs a hug to!" She passed him her green bunny. "I would never, ever, EVER leave you Daddy! And if I had to, I would tell you before I go!" Arthur gave her a small smile and just hugged her again.

Alfred, Francis and Matthew watched them. All of them were reassured that London was going to be fine, and so would England.

**P.S. I suck at medical stuff, so just go with it if it's wrong.**


	15. The Bedtime Book

**Author's Note:**** Hey, so this chapter we're with 2P F.A.C.E and Al and Matt discover the joy that is bedtime with toddlers!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.**

Oliver fixed his tie in the mirror in his room, humming. That evening he had a meeting with the Vargas brothers, then he was going to go and get some more ingredients. However, his young daughter Yasmine was not happy about him going and she was giving him a list of reasons why he shouldn't go. Normally when Oliver went out, Britannia would come and watch Yasmine. Unfortunately, Britannia got caught up with something (terrorizing Rome), so she couldn't babysit. So the job had fallen to Matt, Al and Francois instead.

"Yasmine, you will be fine. I'll be here when you wake up in the morning, okay?" Oliver bent down to his daughter's height. Yasmine just hugged her flying chocolate bunny to her just, her black shoulder length hair framing her face. The four year old scowled. "No, I won't. Who's gonna read the bedtime book? And help me clean my teeth? And check for any monsters under my bed?" Oliver sighed.

"Matthew, Allen or Francois. One of them will, poppet." She still wasn't satisfied. "What if I have a nightmare? Or I can't sleep? Or what if there's a shark in the bath at bath time? Or what if there's a dinosaur at dinner?"

"You're just making up excuses now."

"It could happen! A velociraptor could smell Kuma's dinner and decide to take him on for it. Actually, it would probably be a pack of them, as they normally lived in groups. So-"

Oliver put a kiss on her forehead and spun her round, before herding her out the door. "I've already told you Yasmine, you _will_ be fine. I'll put the others into cupcakes if you're not." She peered up at him. "Promise?"

"Promise."

So far, the evening was going okay. Yasmine had taken her bath and was currently wearing Winnie the Pooh pyjamas, Al had found the shepherd's pie Oliver had made and heated it up (after complaining for twenty minutes about the meat content, until Matt threw a frozen veggie burger at him) and they'd had dinner and Francois was currently timing two minutes whilst Yasmine cleaned her teeth. It was now 8 o'clock, it was dark outside and Matt and Francois had left Al to put Yasmine to bed.

"Okay squirt, time to go to sleep" Al pushed himself of the floor, having just finished checking for any monsters under the bed and in the wardrobe. Yasmine was sat cross-legged on top of her bed.

"Nuh uh. You need to read from the bedtime book." Al sighed. He had heard about this bedtime book. Apparently it was a very big part of Yasmine's nightly routine. Every night before Yasmine went to sleep, Oliver would read to her a couple of pages from the book. He had no idea what it was. However, it being Oliver, it was probably some pink book of fairy tales, with unicorns and fairies. He glanced at the book shelf. Yep, there were at least five pink books (which Oliver had bought).

"Fine, which one is this dumb bedtime book?" Al waved a hand at the shelf. "Dad took it downstairs, I'll go grab it". Yasmine scampered off before he could stop her. Downstairs, Matt and Francois could hear her thudding down the stairs and they caught a flash of black hair dashing to Oliver's study, before she went back up the stairs.

"Here's the bedtime book" She declared triumphantly, passing her brother the book and pulling the dinosaur duvet over her. Well, Al had definitely misjudged Yasmine's bedtime reading material. Badly. Rather than being a book of fairy tales or a cliché princess story (complete with glitter pages), she had handed him an encyclopaedia. To be precise, the National Geographic Animal encyclopaedia, with 2,500 animals described in 304 pages and over 1,000 colour photos, in a hardback. He looked at Yasmine with a _you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me_ look on his face. Yasmine just stared right back. Rolling his eyes, Al sat on the end of her bed and opened the book to the cupcake book mark.

"Are you sure this is what you want me to read this to you?"

"Yes, now read it!" Groaning, Al started to read. This book was literally numbing his mind; it was so dull! Maybe that was why Oliver read it to her, to make Yasmine fall asleep. But when he checked the little girl was hanging on to his every word. However, he was having some difficulty pronouncing some of the words, mainly the scientific names for the animals. Some of them sounded hilarious. Seriously, the kid made Oliver read to her about _vulpes lagopus_ and _hyla arborea_ every night?

Finally Al decided to put himself out of this misery. "MATT! Get your ass up here, now!" Yasmine looked at him hopefully, realising she may still get to listen to her encyclopaedia with the words properly pronounced. The Canadian gave growled as he stomped up the stairs to his sister's room. He had been watching hockey! "What the hell do you want, sh- idiot?!" Al gave him an insanely annoying smirk. "Dude, can you read Yasmine her bedtime book?"

"You seriously can't read a bedtime story?" Yasmine ran up to him, hugging flying chocolate bunny. "Mattie, he's not saying the words right! He's making it silly!" She stared up at him with big brown eyes. Damn it, his resolve always crumbled to those eyes. "Fine. Yasmine, get in your bed. Dumbass, get your ass downstairs and stop upsetting her!" Al kissed his sister good night and walked out the room, doing a fist pump at not having to read anymore.

Matt sat on the edge of the bed and whipped out his reading glasses. "Okay, so where is this infamous book?" She dropped the book in his lap. "_Ici._" He raised an eyebrow but started to read it anyway.

Francois was getting annoyed. Matt had been upstairs with Yasmine for almost half an hour. Did he really expect him to stay sane with Allen for company? At least with Matt they could both just sit together in silence with beer and TV but Allen had to wreck that by talking! It was bearable with Matt as they would just talk French and insult Al without him realising. Seriously, how long did it take to read a book on ponies or whatever garish story Oliver had introduced her to? He thought as he went up the stairs.

He could hear Matt reading to Yasmine and he stopped outside her door. He was about to barge in when something stopped him. He instead discreetly peered into the pink room (again Oliver's colour choice. Unfortunately, his daughter did not share his love of the colour and had instead covered the walls with pictures and posters to hide them). Matt was sitting on Yasmine's bed, reading an encyclopaedia with his glasses on. Yasmine was standing on her bed next to him, peering over his shoulder to see the pictures, her eyes full of fascination. Neither of them had noticed the Frenchman in the doorway. Yasmine suddenly gasped. "Look Mattie, it's a polar bear, like Kuma!"

"Yeah, it is. Did you know polar bears are the only animal which will instinctively hunt humans?"

"Cool!"

Francois took the opportunity to slip back downstairs, before coming back up. This time he had a camera. Making sure it was on silent with no flash, he started to snap some photos. These would be great to shut Oliver up with and to blackmail Matt and Yasmine when she was older. Yasmine gave a small yawn and leaned her head on Matt's shoulder, nuzzling him.

"Okay maple leaf, time for bed" Yasmine instantly began to protest. "But Matt, I'm not tired" she yawned. "_Oui, vous l'êtes_" said Francois, deciding to make his presence known. Matt instantly tore off his glasses. Yasmine scowled. "_Non, je ne suis pas!_"

"We all know that's a lie Yasmine. You are yawning." Giving in, Yasmine huffed and climbed in her bed. "Fine. _Bonne nuit_ Francois. Thanks for reading to me Matt, you were better than Al" Matt smiled and hugged her, whilst Francois ruffled her hair and gave her a small, half-smile, which was extremely rare.

"_Bonne nuit Londres_" Francois said, before heading out the room. Matt flicked on the fairy lights above Yasmine's bed and switched of the main light. Already the girl was nodding off.

"_Bonne nuit feuille d'érable_" In her exhausted state, Yasmine gave him a small and sleepy answer.

"_Bonne nuit Canada_". He couldn't help but give a small smile, before gently shutting the door as the small nation drifted off to sleep.

Oliver leaned back on the door with a sigh, a bag of ingredients on the floor next to him. Tonight had been nice, having a chat with the Vargas brothers and discussing the most fashionable shade of pink with Romano (Veneziano had to leave early due to this conversation), followed by some time alone, with a corpse in the bakery. He could hear the TV in the living room and he peered in to see Allen and Francois watching the news.

"Hello poppets!" They both gave a greeting, their eyes never leaving the screen. "How was Yasmine?"

"She's asleep. She was fine." said Francois. Al looked at him. "Are you kidding? She made me read an encyclopaedia to her!"

"Oh, so you found the bedtime book?"

"Yes." They both replied. "Where's Matthew?" Both men looked up from the TV. The Canadian was nowhere in sight. "I don't know. Where the hell did he go?"

"H word!" Al rolled his eyes. "I think zhat I know where 'e is." Francois sighed and walked to the study. "Yep, he's here!" he called. Matt was currently sitting in a chair, reading Yasmine's encyclopaedia.

"Dude, you actually enjoyed reading that?!"

"F*ck off, sh*t stain!"

**AN:**_**Vulpes Lagopus **_**is the name for an Arctic fox, whilst**_** Hyla arborea **_**is the name for the European tree frog. The book is real and awesome.**


	16. Christmas Spirit

**Look who's back in time for Christmas! I am so sorry for being gone this long. I started year ten in September, so suddenly my time has been filled with homework and revision for tests and my future. I should have at least left a note on my profile, which I'm sorry about. On to the story!**

It was the last few weeks of school for Jasmine and the seven year old was extremely excited about Christmas and the upcoming school nativity. She had been chosen to be the angel Gabriel, so she also got to sing a solo song, in front of everyone! It was a little scary, but the good kind of scary. Most days after school you could find her wearing her sparkly fluffy white angel wings and practising her song. Whenever Francis was around he would gladly help her practise, as would Matthew and Alfred (admittedly Alfred was sometimes a hindrance more than a help), or she would ask her childminder. She had a childminder now. Arthur was too busy.

He always left for work really early, and came home really late. He would be tired and grouchy and irritable. On the off chance he would have some time at home, he was nearly always working, or catching up on sleep. Things had been like this for a couple of months, and Jasmine disliked this new routine. Everything Arthur used to do with her, like turn her light out, reading her a story and helping her with homework, was now done with Katie, her childminder. She nice, but she wasn't Arthur (although dinner was now a lot more tasty).

Arthur was in his study, going through some paperwork and making notes. Just then there was a small knock on the door. "Come in" he called, rubbing his eyes. He gave a small smile as he saw his daughter shyly walk towards him, wearing angel wings and halo. "Look Daddy, I'm an angel!" she said with pride. "That's lovely dear. Where did you get the costume?" Her face fell slightly. "From school. For the play" Oh. "So I'm guessing your one of the angels?" Her face fell even further. "I'm THE angel, Gabriel. I told you that ages ago" Arthur diverted his eyes from the look of hurt in Jasmine's brown ones. She'd mention something about a fortnight ago about a play and her being an angel… But then he'd been reading a report about business with Germany at the same time.

Just then the phone rang and he grabbed it. "Ah, Minister, I was hoping you'd be calling soon. Yes, I have read the files…"He kept talking with the man on the phone and motioned Jasmine out of his office. She gave a small sigh and left, her wings drooping. Outside the door, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small piece of card: the ticket to her play she'd got for Arthur. She'd never got a chance to give it to him. He'd forgot about something very important! He never normally did that! Sure, he was under a lot of pressure and work and stuff, but he was missing and forgetting loads of important things. Like her seventh birthday (and the previous one), signing her reading log and now probably the play. She slipped the ticket under the door, before going to bed.

\- - - - - - - - -Time-skip- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next morning Jasmine ate lunch with Francis, Matthew and Alfred, who were staying for the next couple of weeks for Christmas (although Francis and Matthew tried to cover it and say it was for business, Alfred denied it). Arthur had been called into work. They all noticed something was off about Jasmine. She was picking at her food and it was fish and chips, her favourite. Francis was the first to ask what was wrong.

"_Ma chère, ce qui est faux?"_ She shook her head. "_Rien Papa"_ He caught Matthew's eye and gave him a look. "_Feuille d'érable, il est pas rien. Ce qui est faux?" _Jasmine looked at the Canadian, contemplating what to say. "_Je ne pense pas que Papa m'a aime autant plus."_ All three nations gasped. "Dudette, that's so not true!" Alfred yelled, making the other two wince. "Really? Then why is he always busy, and forgetting about stuff?"

"It's just a small work phase, it will be over very soon" Francis said encouragingly, but Jasmine shook her head, some small tears welling up. "He's been like this since my birthday" she said in a small voice. Her birthday was in July. Matthew put his arms around her and lifted her up to hug her and she gave a small sniffle and buried her face in his shirt. "I want the old Daddy back" she whispered, before she started to cry and Alfred and Francis rushed over. "It's okay Jasmine, we'll talk to him. Hero's honour!" Alfred said, trying to lighten the mood. "Oui, we will" Francis patted her back soothingly. "_Tout ira bien. Nous nous engageons."_

"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*""*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

The next day Arthur was at work, doing more paperwork, checking facts and details and fixing and editing what needed changing. Just then the phone rang. He checked the caller; it was reception.

"Hello, Arthur Kirkland speaking?"

"Mr Kirkland, we have a group of foreign representatives who wish to speak to you. They say it's urgent." He gave a small sigh. Great, an unscheduled meeting. Just what he needed. "Send them up."

A few minutes later there was a loud knock on the door and Arthur opened the door. To his surprise, America, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, India and Seychelles walked in.

"Hello England" Alfred said, in his serious voice. Arthur shuffled awkwardly. "Hello. You didn't schedule an appointment, so I'm assuming this must be important?"

"It's about Jasmine" Jett said and all colour drained from Arthur's face. "What?! Is she okay? Did something happen?!"

"No, she's fine! But we're here to talk about her" Michelle calmed him down quickly.

"Oh. What did you want to talk about? She hasn't got herself into trouble, has she?"

"Nope. We're here to talk about you" Aarav said grimly.

"ME?! I don't know what you think you are doing but I can assure you if you don't start explaining within the next minute I will call security-"

"Jasmine thinks you don't love her anymore." Leon said flatly and Arthur froze and stopped talking.

"W-what did you say" he whispered. "She thinks she done something wrong and she's worried because frankly you've been working yourself to hard and forgetting about a lot of stuff that's important to her"

"Well, although I've been busy I don't think this is your place to intrude and tell me what I'm doing wrong-"

"Arthur, we're not. We're here to tell you what you missed and what you're in danger of missing" Matthew got him to shut up. Alfred spoke first.

"You were busy a lot. I appreciate that, but sometimes you never seemed to have enough time for us. You were so surprised when you came to see me one day to find I had grown, because you'd been away for so long."

"You used to confuse me with Alfred and sometimes you'd forget about me and some of the colonies."

"You rarely came to visit New Zealand and me. It was lonely and we missed you. You missed really important stuff, like us learning to be "gentlemen". It might have been more successful if we'd had a gentlemen to look up to."

"You traded with my country for a while, then you took over. It wasn't exactly fun, but you opened my country to the rest of the world. You missed me, Pakistan and Bangladesh learning to play cricket."

"I was basically a trophy which you'd stolen off France. Sure, you came to see me and stuff but you never saw much of the true islands, did you?" 

"You ruled over my city for over 150 years. You used to tell me off for lighting firecrackers and you cursed me to have your eyebrows. But I wished you could have been around for lots of things, like when I learnt to speak English and how to read. I still have those books you gave me when I was little. I never got the chance to read you one."

Arthur sat down in his chair and glared at them. "So you're here to make me feel guilty?"

"No. We're here to tell you about what you missed. And to warn you that you're going to miss out on Jasmine's life just like you did with us. But unlike us, she grows at the rate of a normal child, so instead of having a century of her being seven, you have year. One, mortal year. I hope you can make things right." Alfred nodded to everyone and they filed out of the office.

Arthur waited until he was sure they were all gone, before burying his face in his hands and contemplating how much of an idiot he was.

"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*

It was the night of the play and backstage the school was abuzz with children dressed as shepherds and sheep ran around giggling, a wise man broke his gift, baby Jesus was (almost) lost and the angel Gabriel was having second thoughts.

"Jasmine, you will be fine. It's just pre-performance jitters. We don't have another angel Gabriel, so we can't do the show without you. Okay?" Jasmine nodded, her halo slipping slightly. "Good" her teacher then rushed off to deal with a crying toddler who'd bumped their head. She cautiously peered her head round the curtain. The school hall was filling up with people. She caught sight of a cowflick and a curl and waved at the two blonds, who waved back as Francis appeared with drinks. She pointed to her eyebrows and smiled hopefully. They looked at each other awkwardly before shaking their heads. Her face fell. Arthur wasn't there. She nodded before going back behind the curtain. The show was going to start.

Slamming the door behind him, Arthur stormed into the kitchen and made himself a cup of tea. He couldn't get over his encounter with some of his ex-colonies. What they'd said had stung. A lot, What was worse was they were absolutely right. He went to his study and sighed at the paperwork. The pile was gradually getting smaller, but his boss could be very demanding at times. Just then, something caught his eye. A piece scrap paper probably was on the floor. He bent down to pick it up and realised it was a ticket to Jasmine's play.

He looked at it for a while. "You should go" whispered FMB, but England shooed him away. The play started at six, it was five fifty. He could make it but- His mobile rang and he saw he had a text, asking him to come back to the office. He looked at the ticket, then at the message, before writing and sending a message:

_On my way._

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"

The narrator had just done their part and Mary and Joseph had started their journey to Bethlehem, with the choir singing 'Little Donkey'. It would be her turn at any moment. The narrator spoke again whilst the set changed and all the shepherds and sheep came on. Suddenly she was tapped on the shoulder and her teacher motion she go on. A flurry of glitter was thrown on stage and she ran out. She looked around at the see of people. She suddenly felt very scared. Just then, she saw Matthew and Francis sitting and watching her, nodding encouragingly. Then she saw the door at the back of the hall open and in came Alfred, with Arthur! Jasmine's face broke into a huge smile as Arthur made his way to his seat, before beginning to say her lines with the utmost enthusiasm.

When the play finished children ran off to their parents and Jasmine practically leapt on Arthur, who lifted her up for a hug. "Daddy! Daddy! You came! You saw me be an angel!"

"Yes, I did and I thought you were absolutely brilliant love" Arthur said with a smile.

"I didn't think you were going to come. I wasn't sure if you got the ticket"

"Well luckily I found it in time and the teacher at the door let me in" Jasmine gave a yawn and snugged into his jacket. "I zhink zhat it's time _pour l'ange_ to go 'ome and sleep, oui?" Francis gave a small smile.

"_Je ne suis pas fatigue"_ she said, although she was obviously very worn out.

"I beg to differ sweetheart" They headed out towards the door.

"Jasmine you totally rocked it sing up there! Appearing in the glitter cloud was awesome!"

"You looked very angelic in costume. Now you need to act it more" Matthew said with a grin as Jasmine stuck her tongue out at him. Arthur rolled his eyes but decided to let it slide this once.

They looked a rag tag bunch of people. Four tall blonds walking with one small dark haired girl wearing an angel costume. Two of the blonds looked identical whilst the other two were bickering like an old married couple. But nobody could deny they looked like a family.

**Well this turned out longer than I expected. I will try and make a bigger effort to update more regularly. Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you enjoyed reading this!**


	17. Happy Birthday London! (special chapter)

**Author's Note:**** Hello everybody reading this! This story is one year old today! I would like to thank everybody who has read it, followed, favourited and reviewed. Your encouragement and enjoyment has spurred me on and always brightens my day. I know my updates are erratic and I don't always put up translations, but really, I really appreciate your support. People from over 10 different countries around the world have read this and overall it has been viewed over 8,600 times! I never thought this story would be so liked. And this is all thanks to you, the reader. So let's make a toast, eat some cake and read on with the story!**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Hetalia, I only own the OC.**

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…" The group of nations sang as Arthur uncovered Jasmine's eyes and she gasped. Their garden had been transformed, with coloured lights and bunting strung around in the trees, tables moved into the middle of it and it looked like the world had come over for her birthday. Arthur led her over to a table, where Francis had lit the candles on the cake (chocolate, her favourite). "Happy birthday dear Jasmine, happy birthday to you!"  
"Dudette, make a wish! We're really hungry!" Alfred yelled and Matthew slapped the back of his head, making him wince and glare. Jasmine giggled, before blowing out the ten candles (it took several blows, but she got them). Everyone cheered and food was handed out.

The summer night was warm and the city was still awake, with cars and sirens in the distance. Arthur watched Jasmine playing it _**(tag)**_ with the other cities and smiled as she, Paris and New York ran off screaming as Leon chased them (he was having way too much fun doing that). Other countries were milling around, drinking and eating, chatting with each other and catching up on old times. All current tensions seemed to have temporarily vanished. They could pass as normal people, at a garden party for someone's birthday, with normal, human lives. It felt as if for that short while, they were human. It felt perfect.

"So did you enjoy your birthday?" Arthur sat down on Jasmine's bed and gently tucked her in, whilst she snuggled down. "It was perfect. It was really nice of everyone to come and make it a surprise! I thought they'd just forgot…" Arthur ruffled her hair. "Well, they didn't. None of us did and none of us would let any of them. It's not every day you turn 10! Speaking of which, what did you wish for?"

"Dad! You can't tell a wish, otherwise it can't come true!"  
"I have magic, I can easily fix the wish laws." She looked sceptical, before leaning up and whispering in his ear  
"I wished we could stay like this forever."

She still had very little idea about how true her wish could be. She was still growing. She hadn't reached the point when she'd stop aging and have to watch her human friends grow old and die. She didn't fully realise that the world would keep turning, changing and evolving whilst they, the personifications, seemed frozen in time. She would have to stand and watch many leaders, many people and many places come and go, each fighting for their place and their right to survive in the big world. She may have to watch history make itself; experience riots, wars and attacks that would shape the world and society. All the while, she and the nations would stay. Some may change slightly, most others would just, stay the same. Forever. Or at least as long as their land survived.

She knew nothing of that sort. And in a sense, England was glad of that. Because that meant she was safe; safe in a world full of horror and terror. She had the security of leading a normal childhood. Something most of them never had.

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"England. England!" Arthur snapped himself out of his thoughts. His boss glared at him. "Are you even listening? You seem to have blanked out"  
"Sorry sir, I was just thinking about my daughter's birthday." The prime minister's face softened  
"Well, I advise you to keep your personal thoughts about London tucked away until after this meeting. I'm sure you can do that."  
"Yes sir."

It turned out that Arthur didn't need to keep his thoughts tucked away. The lady leading the meeting, a Miss Carter cleared her throat. "Actually sir, our next topic is about the personification of London"  
"Oh. Well, go ahead." She nodded at her colleague, who put up the power point. Pictures of the personifications flashed up.

"As you know, the world's countries and major cities are personified. When most of these personifications came to being, modern science did not exist. We still know so little about personifications, their genetics and their abilities. Unfortunately, any research attempted on a fully developed personification has been unsuccessful, with results being corrupted or not coming up at all."

Arthur could remember being asked to be tested on. He and his boss had blatantly refused the most violent ones, but he couldn't stop them taking blood samples and doing fitness and strength tests. He knew other nations had been less fortunate than him, like Russia. He always covered his neck so people didn't see the scars and bandages from wounds caused by experiments during the Soviet Union.

"However, we believe that research into still developing personifications may be more fruitful. By studying how personifications' cells develop as they grow, we may be able to understand more about them and if it would be possible to recreate their regenerative abilities in humans, which would help advance medicine and-"

"No." England cut her off, his voice and eyes hardening. She pursed her lips. "I am sure you want what's best for your people"  
"She represents part of my people. And as her father and her nation I say no." Dark blue eyes narrowed and Miss Carter cleared her throat.

"Ladies and gentleman, sitting before us is a specimen who is what most would call perfect. He has superior strength and fitness, accelerated metabolism, self-healing and regenerative abilities and does not age. He is one of a handful of beings like this on our planet. But what if we could change that? What if we could harness this? Imagine the possibilities. We could take modern medicine into a completely new age. Cancer could become a thing of the past, amputees could have all their limbs and arthritis could be reversed. The military could be twice as efficient, with soldiers able to be stronger and heal faster. The cosmetics industry would boom. We could change the world. Do we really want to miss out on this? Do we want to miss out on this golden opportunity because we didn't want to run some tests?"

Arthur felt sick. He looked around the table to see people whispering and some nodding. The minister drew back everyone's attention. "That is an… interesting idea Miss Carter, however I feel it may be unethical." Arthur just glared at her, gripping the table tightly. "Therefore, we will drop the subject for now. Let's continue on with the meeting…"

The meeting had finally ended and England was hurrying to make a quick exit. Unfortunately, people kept stopping him to talk and he couldn't refuse them. He was almost at the door when-

"England!" He turned around to see Miss Carter coming towards him. "Yes ma'am?" he said through gritted teeth. She stopped and pushed her black hair out her eyes. "I wanted to discuss my point I made earlier. I really think-"  
"Miss Carter, nothing you say will change my mind. I am her legal guardian as well as her personification and I refuse. That is the end of the subject. Now I am sorry, however I need to go. Good evening and goodbye"

Monica Carter watched as the blond haired personification made his way out of the building. That damn nation… She gave a small smile. "If that how you want it to be England, then so be it. But the subject has only just begun. One way or another, I will perform my experiments. It's only a matter of time. And I am a very patient person."

**I have started to decide where this story is going. And I'm not giving too much away, but it may be going in a very dark direction… **


	18. Mother's day

**Author's Note:**** Hello, dear readers, I am back again. More irregular updates in the future, but please bear with me, and not hate me for it. We are going back in time a bit, to a little (ish) Jasmine! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia, however I do own the OC.**

"Okay kids, today we will be making Mother's day cards!" The class of seven year olds cheered as their teacher announced this exciting news. They were going to spend the whole morning having fun, making a mess and making something for their mum! Every child chattered excitedly to their friends about their cards. All except one. Jasmine looked down at the piles of card, paint, glitter and stickers on the table as her classmates got on with the task.

"Hey Jasmine, why haven't you started on your card?" One of the boys at her table, Thomas looked at her questioningly. "You're great drawing! You could draw your mum some flowers!" Another boy, Alex nodded. "Or you could draw her a kitten! Or you could ask the teacher if you could print a picture of you on it!" Keira gave a grin as she poured glitter on her card.

How would Jasmine put this. "I don't have a mum." Her whole table gasped. "B-but everybody has a mummy!" Thomas gasped. Jasmine shook her head. "My dad says it's impossible not to have a mum, and he's a doctor" Keira said solemly. "Did your mum die?" Jasmine glared. "I don't have a mum, I never have!"

"My mum moved away from dad when I was a baby. I go and live with her in the holidays. Maybe your mum left when you were a baby Jasmine!" Alex piped up, eyes sparkling at his theory. Jasmine scowled. "I told you, I don't have a mum! I have daddy and Francis and Mattie and Alfie. I don't need a mum!"

Just then the teacher came over to see what all the fuss was about. "Children, please try and keep the noise down. Focus more on your cards and less on your gossip"  
"But Miss Smith, Jasmine says she hasn't got a mum! How can she make a card?" The teacher looked at Jasmine, who looked at the paper like she wanted to stab it. "Jasmine dear, how would you like to make a card for your dad instead? I'm sure he would appreciate it very much!"

Jasmine nodded her head vigorously and started drawing a flying mint bunny and cups of tea. Soon the other kids lost interest in the fact she didn't have a mother. But now it had been pointed out, she couldn't really not focus on it.

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"Francis, why don't I have a mum?" Francis, who was cutting vegetables for dinner, nearly sliced his fingers when Jasmine asked him this. "W-why do you ask, _fleur_?"  
"Everyone at school has mums. Why don't I?"  
"It's… complicated." Jasmine watched the Frenchmen add ingredients to the pot on the stove and noticed a strange look on his face. "What's that supposed to mean?" Suddenly Francis ushered her out of the kitchen, muttering something about bring her brothers down to dinner and closed the door, leaving her very confused.

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"Hey you guys, why don't have a mum?" Matthew almost slid off the sofa and Alfred suddenly did his hero laugh (very loudly), whilst avoiding eye contact. "Why do you wanna know?" Jasmine gave an exasperated sigh. "Because everyone at school has a mum, somewhere. Keira's dad's a doctor and he said it's impossible to not have a mum. That means I must have one somewhere!"  
"Oh maple hockey" Matthew whispered under his breath. "Anyway, you guys are basically my brothers, so you've got to have a mum to!"

"Hahaha… yeah totally dudette!" Matthew shot his brother a look. "But it's a bit complicated. Arthur and Francis always looked after us, instead of our mom." The girl's eyebrows knitted together. "Why?" Matthew spoke up.  
"Because she had to go. She- she got sick, so Francis looked after me, and Arthur looked after Alfred, before later he looked after both of us"  
"But why didn't she come back?" Both boys froze. The light in Alfred's eyes and smile dulled, whilst Matthew's face seemed to crumple slightly.  
"Jasmine, why don't you go Arthur it's dinnertime" Alfred said in a quiet voice. Before she could respond, she was outside the living room; the door shut in front of her.

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There was a quiet knock on the door and England looked up from his work. "Come in Jasmine" he said, recognising the knock. He smiled as Jasmine came bounding in. "Daddy, daddy! I made you something at school, but I forgot to give it to you earlier! It's a card with a picture of me, you, Alfie, Mattie and Francis!"  
She waved to piece of paper in front of him and Arthur could see five rough stick figures, each one with a name under them. He gently took the card and placed it on his bookshelf. "There, it takes pride of place now. It looks lovely dear! Why did you decide to make a card?" Jasmine face fell.  
"We had to because it's mother's day soon." Oh. "Daddy, why don't I have a mum?" He gave a deep sigh, before picking her up and putting her on his lap. "It's complicated."  
"Francis said that. Why's it complicated? Al and Matt had a mum, you had a mum!" Arthur chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

"First of all, why does it matter whether you have a mother? It's never bothered you before." Jasmine paused for a moment, deep in thought.  
"Because I want to know if I have one, and where she is. It's impossible to not have a mother. Everyone else knows where theirs is."

Arthur rocked back in his chair gently. "Well, how about this. When you're older- when I think you're old enough- I'll tell you about your mother."

"But-" Arthur shushed her. "However, this is what I'm going to tell you for now. It doesn't matter whether you have a mother Jasmine. It doesn't matter that you have two dads. What does matter is that you have people who love you lots and care for you. And I promise you, I will always be one of those people. So if anyone tells you that not having a mother is a problem, tell them it's not. And if they persist, tell them they're a twat."

Jasmine gave a small giggle. "Now, let's go and see what the frog's cooked for dinner, shall we?" And with that they left for the kitchen, Jasmine's small hand clasped tightly around Arthur's.  
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"Mr Kirkland, we have a caller claiming to be from your daughter's school? They say they need to talk to you about her behaviour"  
Arthur sighed. "Send it through Jean" There was a beep and the headmistress was on the phone.  
"Hello ma'am, what appears to be the problem?" He listened, frowning slightly. "Ah, I see. I deeply apologise for her behaviour, yes, I'll get someone to pick her up. I assure you she will get a very stern talking to about her behaviour. Okay, goodbye"  
He put the phone down. Only then did his face crack into a smile, as he began to text Alfred to pick her up.

"DUDE! I can't believe you got sent home from school for calling that kid a twat!"  
"Alfred, she did kick him as well!" Matthew rolled his eyes at his brother, whilst trying to stay focussed on the road. "He was ten as well. Why the heck are you picking fights with big kids?"

"He started it" Jasmine said grumpily from the back of the car. "He said it was dumb to have two dads and no mum. He said dad was a-a, a something, I can't remember. So I said he was dumb and a twat, and then he tried to hit me so I kicked where Aunt Elizabeta kicked Gilbert" Alfred snorted and nearly choked on his coffee. "Remind me not to get on your bad side kiddo"  
"Just please don't make this a habit Jasmine, and we'll say no more"  
"Okay Mattie"

.

"Hey, what does twat mean anyway?"


	19. The Referendone with this

**Author's note:**** who's ready for a new chapter? This one is focused on the EU referendum (WE LEFT), which a lot of young people felt was unfair as we didn't have a say in it. It also has an interesting idea in it….  
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia, but I own the OC.**

Jasmine Kirkland, otherwise known as the personification of London gave a low groan and banged her head on the table. She continued to do this for another 30 seconds, before her head began to ache. She glanced back at the newspaper on the table, praying what she'd read was wrong. Nope. "BRITAIN TO LEAVE THE EU" stared right back at her. Brilliant. She glanced at the clock and noted she had to leave for school in the next fifteen minutes, or else be late. Arthur had gone in to work yesterday and stayed overnight, and would probably be there for the rest of the day, trying to sort out the government.

Just then, the fifteen year old's phone buzzed and she whipped it out. A long list of notices and messages popped up and she gave a sigh. They were mainly from other cities in Europe, her friends. She quickly opened their group chat and began to organise a Skype call with them all to get things sorted. Being suddenly barred from the opportunity to live, study and work in 27 other countries without difficulty, without being given a say in the matter needed to be discussed face-to-face.

Jasmine was dreading school, as she gather up her things. This would be all everyone would be talking about. She dragged a brush through her hair, trying to neaten it whilst her phone constantly buzzed. Oh, she did not feel like school today. Suddenly an idea began to form. It was wrong, but she felt today was an exception. Grabbing the home phone, she began to dial a number and make some arrangements.

_*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* __**Short Time Skip **__*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*_

London supressed the urge to skip down the road, her mind filled with the muddled emotions of her people and her body abuzz with adrenaline, due to the fact she was skiving off school. Sure, England would kill her should he find out, but he wouldn't… A quick call to school pretending to be her childminder settled the issue of her absence, whilst another call to her friends got them to cover for her. She'd changed out of her uniform, but had it in her bag. Jasmine planned to spend most of the day investigating how her people felt about the decision to leave, then around three-thirty change somewhere back into her uniform and blend in with the students leaving school all over the city. She aimed to be back at home by five to be on time for her skype call, after picking up her homework from her friend. And with luck, Arthur wouldn't be home until then at the least. This day was gonna rock.

The teenager blended in well with the bustle of people. Jasmine had picked a simple outfit so not to stand out too much: dark blue skinny jeans, red converse, black t-shirt and black leather jacket. The only thing which was noticeable was the Union Flag on her shirt and on the pin on her rucksack. At first glance, she could pass off as a tourist hanging around the popular parts of the city. Which gave her the perfect opportunities to eavesdrop.

Almost everybody was talking about the referendum. Mothers pushing prams, old men sitting outside the pubs, shopkeepers and their customers, kids playing in the streets… It was as if the whole city was brainwashed to talk about that one subject. A majority of London voters had voted remain (to her delight), but overall the leave campaign had won. It had been unbelievably close; 48% stay, 52% leave. Jasmine took a small sip of her coffee, carefully noting the key points of the conversation that the girls next to her were having.

"It's like, _so _unfair 16 and 17 year olds weren't allowed to vote! This is our future too!"  
"I know! I'm really annoyed, I'm 18 next month!"

She agreed with the points being made. Many young people she'd observed had been unhappy with the outcome and felt it unfair they didn't have a say. Some older people she overheard however had been pleased. Personally Jasmine felt the UK should have stayed, and she believed her father had felt the same. Unfortunately, nations can't vote, as their judgements are sometimes swayed by their populations. Jasmine had heard her dad at night, when he was drunk, arguing loudly with himself about whether he should stay or leave; listing the pros and cons for both sides angrily, before often falling asleep or moving on to a different subject, like whether he was catholic or protestant (technically he was neither). She had seen the toll it took on a nation when the whole country debates over something, and it's so close to agreeing and yet so far. The weary, tired look in their eyes, lethargy, short temper and occasionally hallucinations and shaking/trembling fits. For the past couple of months Arthur had been like a zombie because of this. The girl glanced at her watch: 3:20. Draining the last of her coffee, she paid the bill, before heading to the toilets to change.

_*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* __**Time Skip**__ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*_

London closed the door behind her and leant back against it with a sigh. She made it back home with ten minutes to spare, giving her time to unpack her bag and layout her homework before the skype call. Humming to herself, Jasmine trawled through the internet; killing time before the meeting. She scrolled down the facebook feed, flicking over the adverts when something caught her eye. _Recommended for you: The London Independence Party_. People wanted London to be independent from the rest of the UK? How the hell would that work?

Before she could question it any further, Skype popped up on the screen and she quickly answered it. Her screen was quickly filled with the faces of some of her capital friends: the Berlin Twins, Madrid, Rome, Copenhagen, Paris (well, one of them), Moscow and Warsaw. Her face broke into a grin. "Hi guys!" Everybody started talking at once, some with greetings, other with questions. It took Christophe (**one of the Berlin personifications**) and his court hammer to bring everyone to order (he'd bought it for that entire reason).

"Hallo everybody. I'm glad zhat some people could make it to zhis call, as it vould have been awkvard if nobody else showed up" The Berliner got some snickers at this remark, and he rolled his eyes, before setting them with a firm glare, made more piercing by the pale blue shade he, his sister and Germany shared. "Ve are here for a reason: to discuss zhe fact zhat zhe UK is leaving zhe EU, and zhe affects it is going to potentially have." The screen was then filled with loud arguing cities and Christophe looking as if he wanted to hit them all with the hammer. This kept happening for the next hour, throughout the whole talk, in which very little was actually discussed (although that was more due to a lack of information).

When the chaotic Skype call finally ended, Jasmine finally went to her facebook page. Arthur had texted, saying he'd be home around six, so she had plenty of time before he was back. Independence was a sore subject around him; Alfred made sure not to talk about his birthday plans when he was there. She googled London Independence and several pages came up. Jasmine felt rather guilty, almost as if what she was doing was wrong. Maybe it was just how she'd been raised. Or maybe it was her being paranoid. She clicked the first link and began to read, and spent the next two hours reading through those articles.

And as she did so, a small part of her sprung to life.

**So, what did you think? The London Independence Party is a real thing. I've been toying with the idea of London becoming independent for quite a while now, so the results and the surface of this stuff has actually given me an opportunity to test it out!**


End file.
